Punitive detention, preventive detention & house arrest

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:00]What is the difference between punitive detention and preventive detention? And what is house arrest? Detention means confining or locking up a person. As directed by the magistrate, it may be in police lockup, that is police custody for investigation, or in jail, judicial custody awaiting trial. Punitive detention is undergoing imprisonment for a term imposed by a competent court after trial, conviction, and sentence as punishment for an offense. Preventive detention, on the other hand, differs from punitive detention both in respect of its purpose and justification. The object of preventive detention is not punishment for having done something, but to stop a person before he does it and prevent him from doing it. In case of preventive detention, the detention order is issued by the appropriate government under the preventive detention law and not by the court.

[00:00:52]House arrest is detaining a person in the premises of his house. It involves custody and forced detention. It is used in laws providing for preventive detention.