West Bengal passes laws allowing 1-year preventive detention, auction of offender's property

The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on June 29 passed the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, 2026, which allows the State to place individuals engaging in 'anti-social activities' in preventive detention for up to one year without trial..The Bill empowers the State government to order such preventive detention if it deems the measure to be necessary to prevent activities that may be prejudicial to public order.The Bill proposes the constitution of an advisory board where every detention case will be scrutinised within three weeks. Pertinently, Section 10 (4) of the Bill states that those under preventive detention will not "be ordinarily represented by a legal practitioner" before the advisory board, reported The Hindu. However, this restriction may be removed in appropriate cases, the reasons for which shall be recorded in writing.The Bill also expands the definition of “anti-social activities” to include offences such as organised extortion, unlawful dispossession of property, obstruction of business, illegal mining and sand extraction, and other such activities which cause substantial loss to the public exchequer.According to HT, the Bill defines anti social activity to include any act "that causes or is likely to cause, directly or indirectly, alarm, danger, fear or insecurity among people; poses a great or widespread danger to life or property; disturbance in public order; obstructs business, trade or professions; involves the unlawful dispossession of any person from movable or immovable property; and causes substantial loss or damage to public and private property."The Bill also contains provisions empowering the District Magistrate, Commissioner of Police, and police officers not below the rank of DIG authorised by the State government to remove and prohibit "goondas" or habitual offenders from entering specific areas or districts for upto a year. .While introducing the Bill in the Assembly, recently elected Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said that the new Bill was necessary to curb the illegal activities that "certain sections of society" were engaging in, especially under the previous TMC government..The Assembly also passed another legislation on Monday named the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which allows the recovery of compensation from persons who damage public or private property during riots, unlawful assemblies and violent protests. The Bill provides for confiscation of an offender’s property for auction to compensate for losses.A statutory claims commission shall be set up under the law to determine the amount of compensation. The commission can hold not only those directly involved in violence but also organisers, financiers, instigators and logistical supporters liable for compensation.