May Be Detained - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition may-be-detained

Definition :

May be detained, According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Volume 1, page 531, the word 'detain' means 'to keep in confinement or custody'. Webster's Comprehensive Dictionary, International Edition, at page 349, gives the meaning as to hold in custody, Poonam Lata v. M.L. Wadhawan, AIR 1987 SC 1383: (1987) 3 SCC 347: (1987) 2 SCR 1123.

(ii) The words 'may be detained' are words enabling the authority to detain without a board's opinion for the period there provided for, but are not words giving a choice to the authority to apply s. 17A(a) of the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, 1971 or not, Sambhu Nath Sarkar v. State of West Bengal, AIR 1973 SC 1425: (1973) 1 SCC 856: (1974) 1 SCR 1.