GUWAHATI — The Gauhati High Court on Friday, November 6, quashed the preventive detention of indigenous land rights activist Pranab Doley under the National Security Act, 1980 (NSA) and directed the authorities to release him from preventive detention immediately, Jurisight reported.

Source: Jurisight

A Division Bench comprising Justice Kalyan Rai Surana and Justice Susmita Phukan Khaund delivered the judgment in Doley's habeas corpus petition, Pranab Doley v. Union of India and Others, W.P.(Crl.)/40/2026. The court set aside detention order no. eCF-821601/81 dated July 30, 2026, issued by the Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Assam, Home and Political Department, holding it unsustainable in law.

Arrest, bail — then the NSA

Doley, 40, convenor of the Greater Kaziranga Land and Human Rights Protection Committee, was arrested on July 12 after taking part in a protest against a proposed luxury hotel project at Ingle Pathar, a village adjoining Kaziranga National Park. A sessions court in Golaghat granted him bail on July 29, noting that statements of key witnesses had already been recorded and there was no possibility of evidence being tampered with, Sabrang India reported.

Source: Sabrang India

The very next day, July 30, the Assam government detained Doley under the NSA instead. The state alleged — an allegation Doley has contested through his petition — that he had carried out suspicious foreign transactions from doubtful sources in violation of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. The NSA allows preventive detention for up to 12 months without trial.

Why the court set the order aside

According to the reports of the order, the court found the grounds of detention were not proximate — they lacked the live link the law requires between a person's activities and the need for preventive detention. Senior Advocate Santanu Borthakur, who appeared in the matter, said the detention was quashed on three grounds: the allegations relied upon were not proximate, the materials behind the order were not supplied to Doley, and his representation was not disposed of. News Desk Report, summarising the order, listed four major grounds, including reliance on stale criminal cases and a failure to consider Doley's second representation dated August 10.

Source: Eastern Lens

"These are essential procedural safeguards guaranteed under Article 22 of the Constitution of India, and their violation has led the court to quash the detention order," Borthakur said.

The court ordered that Doley "shall be released and set at liberty forthwith from his preventive detention." Following the order, he walked out of Golaghat District Jail on Friday evening, after 117 days in custody, News Desk Report reported.

Source: News Desk Report