Bengal passes preventive detention, legal curbs Bill

POLITY – BILL/ACT

30 JUNE 2026

• The West Bengal Assembly passed two controversial laws providing for detention of ‘anti-socials’ for a year and restricting access to a lawyer for such persons, and payment of compensation by those accused of damaging private or public property.
• The West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, 2026 empowers the government to detain a person if it deems necessary to stop future anti-social activity for almost a year. It said the government can detain those “generally reputed to be desperate and dangerous to the community”.
• The Bill proposes constitution of an advisory board where every detention case will be scrutinised within three weeks.
• The board, which will comprise a chairperson who is or has been a High Court judge, will decide if a person remains in detention or has to be released.
• Section 10 (4) of the Bill states, “A detained person shall not be ordinarily represented by a legal practitioner before an advisory board.” The proviso of the same sub-section says that the board may remove this prohibition in appropriate cases which should be recorded in writing.
• Another legislation passed, titled ‘The West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2026’, imposes a payment of compensation by persons committing offences such as damage to public or private property.
• Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said such a law has become necessary because of the criminalisation of politics and added that similar laws have been implemented in Maharashtra, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand.
• “We will not misuse this law. This law will not be used against anyone for the purpose of political vendetta,” he said, amidst concern from the Opposition.
• Several Opposition MLAs said the Bill will curb peaceful protests and students’ movements.