NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals can be held in preventive detention even beyond three months, given the approval of the advisory board. Pre-trial detention can extend up to a maximum of one year. The interpretation of Article 22(4)(a) of the Constitution, which pertains to pretrial detention for more than three months was clarified in the verdict delivered by a panel comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Mishra.

This is applicable if the Advisory Board is convinced that there are valid reasons for the extended detention. The court also emphasized that if a report from the board is available, the state government is not required to conduct a review every three months.

The case pertained to the appeal of Pesala Nukkaraju, who was held in custody for engaging in the illegal sale of liquor in Andhra Pradesh.