Man detained without trial as a 'bootlegger' over liquor cases in which he already had bail; High Court orders release
Nandyal's district collector ordered a man detained without trial as a 'bootlegger' because of four cases against him under the prohibition law, in every one of which courts had already granted him bail. The state confirmed the detention in September 2025. On 5 May 2026 the High Court set the order aside and directed his release.
This page records what the cited court records say happened. Findings belong to the court or authority that made them; this register adds none of its own. Names of private individuals are withheld unless a naming gate clears them.
How we verify →Detention set aside on 5 May 2026 and release ordered. The four Prohibition Act cases themselves are not described in the judgment.
What happened
On 24 July 2025 the Collector and District Magistrate of Nandyal ordered the preventive detention of the petitioner's husband, treating him as a 'bootlegger' under section 2(b) of the 1986 preventive-detention law. The High Court recorded that 'about four crimes were registered against the detenu for the offences punishable under the A.P. Prohibition Act' and that 'conditional bail was granted to him in all the said four crimes'.
The detaining authority reasoned that his repeated offences were 'prejudicial to the maintenance of public order and posing danger to public safety and health'. The State confirmed the order by G.O.Rt. No. 1614 on 3 September 2025, 'and since then he has been in custody', the court recorded.
A Division Bench of Justices Cheekati Manavendranath Roy and Tuhin Kumar Gedela held that the bail orders, and the effect of their conditions, had not been placed before and weighed by the detaining authority, which 'invalidates the order of preventive detention'. It set the order aside and directed that he 'be released forthwith'.
The judgment records no allegation of violence, of spurious or poisonous liquor, or of harm to any person. The only conduct it mentions is repeated offences under the prohibition law.
What the High Court recorded
“About four crimes were registered against the detenu for the offences punishable under the A.P. Prohibition Act. Conditional bail was granted to him in all the said four crimes.”
W.P. No. 29381 of 2025, judgment dated 5 May 2026, para 3 — read the full text
Jail without trial for selling drink
Preventive detention lets the state imprison a person for up to a year without a trial. Here it was used against a man whose only recorded conduct was liquor offences, after courts had released him on bail in each of them.
What we could not confirm
The judgment does not say what the four Prohibition Act cases involved (quantities, or whether liquor was sold or only possessed), or the exact date he was taken into custody.