Prof. Bhaskar critiques the new West Bengal Public Safety Bill on DifferentTruths.com, highlighting risks to liberty and judicial due process.

In continuation of power-sponsored violence or the purposive violation of human rights, which is not new in West Bengal, as it may be in many other states of India, the Goonda-daman Act was passed in the West Bengal Assembly on June 29, 2026. It reminds me of the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act, passed by the British Indian government on March 18, 1919, despite the united opposition of its Indian members, indefinitely extending the emergency measures of indefinite preventive detention, imprisonment without trial and judicial review enacted in the Defence of India Act, 1915. It was enacted in response to a perceived threat from revolutionary nationalists.

The British-Indian government passed the Rowlatt Act, which empowered the police to arrest any native Indian person based on mere suspicion. The Act aimed at suppressing the nationalist movement in India. The Act authorised the British government to imprison any person suspected of terrorism living in British India for up to two years without trial. The Act empowered the chief justice to decide on the immediate custody of the accused between trial and release on bail.

The ‘double engine’ government in West Bengal, post-May 04, 2026, introduced or imitated the Rowlatt Act, which may endanger the same or similar sociopolitical conditions in the state.The government in West Bengal introduced a new bill in the ongoing Assembly session on June 29, 2026, to prevent and control “antisocial activities” and to amend an existing law to allow compensation claims from people accused of damaging public or private property during riots or protests.

The West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Antisocial Activities Bill, 2026, apart from defining what constitutes an antisocial activity and who is a “goonda”, also has provisions to bar such people from entering a specified “area, district, or districts” for a period not exceeding one year.

The Bill states that if a district magistrate, a commissioner of police, or a police officer not below the rank of DIG authorised by the state government is apprehensive that a “goonda” is engaging in or will engage in antisocial activities, they may, as a pre-emptive measure, direct such a person to take himself away from such area, district or districts, as may be specified in the order, within the specified time and stop him from entering or returning to such area for a period not exceeding one year. The identified person may be asked to report his movements on time and to such authority as may be specified in the order.

Trio: Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal

Uttar Pradesh enacted the Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act, 1970, to curb criminal activity in the state. The Act allowed district magistrates and senior police officials to issue orders that legally required individuals classified as “goondas” to leave a specified district or area. These orders could prohibit an individual from entering or returning to an area for up to one year.

Section 2 of the Act defined a “goonda” as an individual who has a high propensity to commit crimes, actually commits crimes, or is engaged in offences like extortion, rioting, or illegal possession of weapons, or who has been convicted several times for offences like gambling or violations of the Arms Act, or a person notoriously known as desperate or dangerous or one who habitually teases or passes indecent remarks to women. It is not clear what public safety the Uttar Pradesh government ensured during the past 55 years since 1970, when governments were constituted by different political parties, including the present ‘double engine’ government. This is not, however, the space to conduct an impact assessment of the Act in Uttar Pradesh.

The Gujarat Prevention of Antisocial Activities Act (PASA), 1985, in the state of Gujarat aimed to prevent habitual and organised criminal activities through preventive detention of antisocial elements.

West Bengal became the third state in India to pass such a Bill in the Assembly, which became an act.

Ground Reality

As reported by the finance minister of West Bengal on June 28, 2026, the past fifty years have produced or encouraged criminals in West Bengal, meaning during the periods of the Left Front and the Trinamul Congress governments. The period under the Congress, led by Dr Bidhan Roy, or the Nehruvian period, was portrayed in a positive light. What was not mentioned was the agony of people in West Bengal and centre-sponsored repression on the state of West Bengal for decades for the expression of political differences.  

The real reason for the reintroduction of the Act may be to provide a conflict-free space for capital investors in West Bengal to produce goods of the choosing of the capital controllers. Investment is welcome – the more public investment, the better. The more it is to fulfil basic needs, both private and public, the better it is.

No sane person supports terrorism, anti-national activities, and antisocial or criminal activities. No sane person opposes public protests for the right cause, as may be evident from movements of nationalists and revolutionaries against the ‘insane’ British state, the most prominent of which was probably the Satyagraha movement led by Mahatma Gandhi.  

Public View

I had telephonic communications on June 26-28, 2026, with some formally educated adult members, both male and female, who were residents of West Bengal, on the relevance and necessity of the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Antisocial Activities Bill, 2026. I found non-response, ignorance, and indifference among the respondents in most of the conversations, while a few supported the Bill and a few opposed it. Thus, no conclusive statement can be drawn from this survey. So, what remains is my personal judgement based on evidence like public response in British India. Uttar Pradesh is distant from a vibrant middle class, and hence drawing lessons from that state on this question may be a distant dream.  

What I suspect is that such a draconian Bill will be tabled in the Assembly of West Bengal soon by the ‘double engine’ government in the absence of any ‘effective’ opposition for the safety of the capital. The Bill became an act unconstrained within the Assembly – public protest notwithstanding. Some protesters may be sent to jail for being ‘Desh drohi‘ (anti-national). If the history of the not-very-remote past is remembered, the declaration of internal emergency on June 25, 1975, imposed such repressive measures on the people with a voice. It is June again, now, after half a century.

What is not known to many is that the British Indian government repealed the Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act, 1919, along with many other repressive acts, in March 1922. Of course, the government of West Bengal needs to be aware of the irrelevance of such acts for national security, pass the Bill unopposed in the Assembly and then repeal it. Repealing the Act depends on the public response and the reaction of civil society at home and abroad. My personal view is based on the fear that one innocent person out of 100 may be falsely implicated and imprisoned without trial, and that is a sufficient reason to support the repeal of the Act.  

Picture design by Anumita Roy

Prof. Bhaskar Majumder

Prof Bhaskar Majumder superannuated as an Economics professor from GB Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad. He served as a visiting professor at Central University of Bihar (Patna), Sri Sri University (Cuttack), Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Science College (Calcutta University), and others. He published extensively in 26 reputed journals, authored 11 books, co-edited two, and contributed 38 chapters. He completed 26 research projects funded by the Planning Commission, GoI ministries, ICSSR, the World Bank, NTPC, and Tata Chemicals. An international academic, journal reviewer, and PhD supervisor, he holds degrees from the University of Calcutta. He is our National Editor: Economics and Social Science.