Intervening at this late stage of the debate I shall be very brief. With regard to the details, they have been discussed at great length and I shall not traverse the same ground over again. I will only say that I am entirely in favour of liberalizing the provision as far as it is possible to be done. With regard to the general nature of the provision I will say that it is not an article over which one can enthuse. It is after all an attempt to rescue something out of fire and it should be judged in that light. It is an attempt to rescue something out of fire that eliminated the phrase “due process of law“. Article 15 concerns the most vital of all the Fundamental Rights, viz., the right to life and personal liberty. Those of us who advocated the adoption of that phrase wanted to give that right the essence of Fundamental Right and what is the essence of Fundamental Right? In the small field of the basic needs of the civilized man, the limitation on the sovereignty of the Legislature and to that extent the supremacy of the judiciary, are the essence of the Fundamental Right, unfortunately we were defeated. This provision does not at all seek to restore that supremacy. Dr. Ambedkar has rightly said that article 15 gave a carte blanche for the arrest of any person under circumstances that Parliament may think fit. That right was there and it is not claimed that this article substantially restricts that right. Dr. Ambedkar is satisfied that these provisions are sufficient to guard against illegal and arbitrary arrest: but are they sufficient to prevent the Parliament from making any provision with regard to preventive detention? That is the real test, and I submit that these safeguards are very minor safeguards. Clauses (1) and (2) of the article give no new rights at all. They are old rights–only they are made more difficult of abrogation. And the third point is in regard to the Advisory Committee. These are very minor safeguards and we can say that they are only small mercies. I am not against accepting them for whatever they are worth; but their real nature must be understood.
