Due Process is a Good Idea Because...

...it helps us avoid situations like this:

[A] man was arrested because he was drinking tea in a "suspicious manner" at a road side stall...

The law permitting preventative detention of somebody an officer thinks is about to commit a crime probably contributed to Vijay Patil's arrest.  Even with that law in place, Justice Patel of the Bombay High Court was appalled.  The Times of India reports:

The judgment penned by Justice Patel said, "This is bewildering. We were unaware that the law required anyone to give an explanation for having tea, whether in the morning, noon or night. One might take tea in a variety of ways, not all of them always elegant or delicate, some of them perhaps even noisy. But we know of no way to drink tea 'suspiciously'."

He added, "The ingestion of a cup that cheers demands no explanation. And while cutting chai is permissible, now even fashionable, cutting corners with the law is not."

The prosecutor tried to justify the arrest by pointing to an extensive record of proceedings against Patil.  The High Court pointed out that this record was irrelevant with regard to whether Patil was about to carry out imminent criminal activity.  Also, most of those proceedings, like this one, ended in acquittals.

(H/T: BBC: News From Elsewhere)