The Delhi government has authorised the Commissioner of Police to exercise powers under the National Security Act, 1980 (NSA) for a period of three months that began on July 19.
Police have clarified that the order is “routine” and unconnected with the ongoing street protests by students and the activist platform Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).
The NSA provides for the preventive detention of individuals in certain cases, which include “acting in any manner prejudicial to the security of the State or…the maintenance of Public order or…the maintenance of supplies and services essential to the community”.
The Act allows detentions without immediate criminal prosecution for a specified period, subject to safeguards laid down in the law.
A notification issued by the Home (Police-II) Department states that the Lieutenant Governor has empowered the Delhi Police Commissioner to act as the detaining authority under Section 3(2) of NSA. The authorisation will remain in force until October 18.
The order, signed by Ramesh Kumar, Deputy Secretary in the Home Department of the Delhi government, has been issued under Section 3(3), read with Section 2(e) of the National Security Act, 1980.
The notification does not impose the NSA across all of Delhi, and does not introduce any fresh restrictions.
Instead, it authorises the Police Commissioner to exercise preventive detention powers under the Act during the specified period, in cases where legal requirements are met.
In a statement issued on Thursday (July 23), Delhi Police said that the notification was a routine extension of powers under the NSA, which is issued every three months.
It said that the present renewal order was issued on July 15 for the period July 19 to October 18, well before the commencement of the protests by students and the CJP.
Police also said that no specific request had been made in the context of the ongoing protests, and that the renewal was a routine administrative exercise. It said that the order should not be taken out of context.
