Based on a study of all reported habeas corpus judgments of the Supreme Court in the twenty-year period from 2000 to 2019, this article presents an empirical analysis of the delay in adjudication of habeas corpus petitions in preventive detention cases. Three indicators are used for the study: first, the total time spent between the date of detention order and the date of final disposal by the Supreme Court; second, the time spent at the Supreme Court level alone; and third, the time spent in actual detention till the matter was finally disposed of by the Supreme Court (including an analysis of the extent to which Supreme Court was responsible for the delay). A more sharpened analysis of only ‘successful’ habeas corpus petitions – i.e. the twenty cases where the Supreme Court was the relief-granting court – is also presented. It is suggested that habeas corpus is reduced to a meaningless remedy in many cases.