Preventive detention disclosure: bail application need be supplied only when its contents are material to detention satisfaction.

Under Article 22(5) and preventive detention law, only documents relevant and vital to the detaining authority's subjective satisfaction must be supplied. A bail application is not automatically a vital document in every case; its non-supply matters only if its contents contain material facts or conditions bearing on detention. Here, the detention order noted that the detenu had already been released on bail, and the bail order and remand order were furnished. Because the bail application merely stated that the offence was said to be bailable, its separate supply was not required. The detention order was therefore not vitiated by non-supply of the bail application.

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Issues: Whether non-supply of a copy of the bail application to the detaining authority and to the detenu vitiated the preventive detention order under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act, 1974.

Analysis: The right under Article 22(5) of the Constitution of India and the corresponding statutory protection require supply only of such documents as are relevant and vital to the subjective satisfaction of the detaining authority. A bail application is not automatically a vital document in every case. Its necessity depends on its contents and on whether it contains material facts or conditions that bear upon the detaining authority's decision. Here, the order of detention itself noticed that the detenu had already been released on bail, and the bail order and remand order had been supplied. The application for bail disclosed only that the offence was said to be bailable, which is a matter of law and not a special factual circumstance requiring separate consideration. The precedents relied upon by the appellant were distinguished on their facts because they involved bail applications containing material facts or conditions that were germane to detention.

Conclusion: Non-supply of the bail application did not vitiate the detention order and did not impair the detaining authority's subjective satisfaction.

Ratio Decidendi: Only those documents which are relevant and vital to the detaining authority's subjective satisfaction must be supplied under Article 22(5); a bail application need be furnished only where its contents are material to the detention decision.

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