Illegible relied-upon documents in preventive detention deny an effective representation and render the detention unsustainable.

Preventive detention cannot be sustained where the detenu is supplied illegible or blank copies of relied-upon documents, because such defective disclosure denies a meaningful opportunity to challenge the detention grounds and violates the right to make an effective representation. The detention here rested on alleged unauthorised foreign exchange activity and passport entries said to show repeated travel abroad, but the xerox copy supplied was unreadable in material parts. As the detenu disputed the number of visits and the basis of the authority's conclusion, the illegibility of the passport copy disabled an effective rebuttal. The detention order was therefore unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the detention order could be sustained when the copies of the passport supplied to the detenu, relied upon to infer repeated visits abroad, were illegible or blank so as to deprive him of an effective opportunity to make a representation.

Analysis: The detention was founded on material showing unauthorised acquisition and export of foreign exchange, with the passport entries used to conclude that the detenu had travelled to Singapore on eleven occasions. The supplied xerox copy of the passport was found to contain several blank or illegible entries. Since the detenu had disputed the very basis of the detaining authority's conclusion and had stated a different number of visits, the illegibility of the relied-upon document prevented a meaningful challenge to the detention grounds. In such a preventive detention matter, furnishing intelligible and legible copies of material documents is necessary to enable an effective representation under the constitutional safeguard.

Conclusion: The detention order could not be sustained because the detenu was denied the constitutional right to make an effective representation.

---