President returns Bengal bill allowing preventive detention for ‘anti-social’ activities

President Droupadi Murmu has returned a West Bengal bill that proposes to allow the preventive detention of “anti-social” persons for up to a year after the Union government raised concerns that some of its provisions could conflict with the 1985 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

In its note while returning the draft legislation, the Union government said that the the bill’s definition of “goonda”, which includes a person who commits, attempts to commit, abets, promotes, finances or facilitates offences punishable under the 1985 Act, may overlap with the preventive detention framework provided under the central 1988 Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

The proposed legislation may create a parallel preventive-detention mechanism in cases of drug-related activities and may lead to inconsistencies between the laws at the state and the central levels, the Union government said.

It recommended that the reference to offences under the 1985 Act be deleted from the bill to avoid duplication.

The West Bengal Assembly had passed the Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill on June 30. It was sent to the president for assent after the governor reserved it.

The proposed legislation would allow the state government to order the preventive detention of a person for up...

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