The Defence of India act and Defence of India rules, 1962 were a set of emergency war-time legislations for preventive detention enacted in October 1962

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. It was initially promulgated as a Presidential ordinance, the ''Defence of India Ordinance, 1962'' on 28 October that year under the authority of which the ''Defence of India Rules'' were enacted. In December 1962, the

Indian Parliament The Parliament of India (ISO: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Government of the Republic of India. It is a bicameral legislature composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). The President o ...

enacted the ''Defence of India act, 1962'' which consolidated the continued application of the ordinance as law. The act consisted of 156 rules that "regulated virtually all aspects of life" including travel, finance, trade, communication, publication etc. and were essentially identical to the

Defence of India act, 1939 The Defence of India Act, 1939 (No.35) was an Act passed by the Central Legislature on the 29th day of September, 1939 which effectively declared martial law in India. Although it was enacted on 29 September 1939 it was deemed to come into force ...

enacted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The act suspended the

Fundamental rights Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Susta ...

of any person held under the act, and specifically Rule 30 of the act allowed the government to hold any person in detention without explanation suspending the right under the article 22 of Constitution of India, without the right to representation, and without the provisions of ''

Habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

''. The act was infamous in having been used on Indians of Chinese ethnicity during and after the 1962 Sino-India war. Many of them were taken from border towns in Northeast India like Darjeeling and Kalimpong along with other Chinese Indians living in Assam and Kolkata, and incarcerated in a detention camp in Deoli, in the state of Rajasthan. The act was also used during emergency against those who opposed emergency but two months later high court acquitted all arrested under this act.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defence Of India Act 1962 Indian legislation 1962 in Indian law Sino-Indian War

See also

References