The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court has overturned a detention order issued under the Public Safety Act against a teenager, emphasizing that the law prohibits treating a child as a threat warranting preventive detention. Justice M A Chowdhary noted that the detention was based on activities committed when the petitioner was only 16 years old, which violates the principles of reformative justice mandated by the constitution. The court found that the grounds for detention were vague and lacked specific details, failing to consider the juvenile status of the petitioner at the time of the alleged offenses. The petitioner had been detained for 15 months in a juvenile home before being released on bail in early 2025. The court underscored that preventive detention is an extraordinary measure that must be strictly justified, and in this case, the detaining authority did not demonstrate the necessity to bypass the juvenile justice framework. This ruling reinforces the importance of adhering to legal standards when dealing with minors in the justice system.