1-year detention with no trial part of new WB bills

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal is set to introduce next week two stringent bills that dramatically expand the definition of “anti-social activity”, provide for preventive detention for up to 12 months without trial, and auctioning of an offender's property to compensate for losses, officials said on Friday.

- Tanmay Chatterjee

The two bills — the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-social Activities Bill, 2026 and the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2026 — mirror similar controversial laws in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, said the officials cited above.

Both bills are likely to be introduced in the state legislative assembly on June 29 and are aimed at curbing organised crime, extortion, public disorder, illegal mining and smuggling of natural resources in West Bengal, the officials added.

The West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-social Activities Bill, 2026 proposes preventive detention for up to 12 months without trial, repeated detentions if required. The West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2026 provides for confiscation of an offender's property for auction to compensate for losses, said officials familiar with the matter.

According to the bill, anti-social activity, according to a copy of the special June 24 Kolkata Gazette notification seen by HT, is 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.”

“Anti-social activities” also include “any illegal activity relating to mining, quarrying, sand extraction, forest produce or wildlife which causes substantial loss to the public exchequer.”