Arbitrary detention: An introduction of USA and India

Pages: 2071-2073
Inamul Haq (Centre for Gandhian Thought and Peace Studies Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat)

Arbitrary detention is the imprisonment of a person without proper evidence that he/she committed a crime or a case in which due process of law has not been properly followed (McChrystal, 2016). In other words, it means the holding of a person without trial when the evidence available is not sufficient for him or her to be charged or for a conviction to be secured by legal proof. The United Nations Human Rights Committee (1964) explains arbitrary detentions as imprisonment or arrest that are carried out by the state and includes the elements of inappropriateness, injustice, lack of predictability and due process of law. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has broadly defined arbitrary detention as: (a) Detention that have no valid legal basis. (b) Are intended to deny the detainee the exercise of the fundamental rights guaranteed by either domestic or international law (United Nations Manual, 2003).