Bengal passes bill allowing year-long preventive detention for ‘anti-social’ activities
· Scroll
The West Bengal Assembly on Monday passed a bill that would allow the preventive detention of “anti-social” persons for up to a year, The Hindu reported. The bill would not allow detainees to be represented by a lawyer before the panel reviewing their detention, except in certain cases.
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Every detention case would be reviewed within three weeks by an advisory board headed by a serving or former High Court judge, which would decide whether the detainee should remain in custody or be released, the newspaper reported.
The Assembly also passed the West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order Amendment Bill which would require those found responsible for damaging public or private property during riots or unlawful assemblies to pay compensation.
The first piece of legislation, titled the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, would allow the government to order the preventive detention of a person for up to one year if they are “generally reputed to be desperate and dangerous to the community”.
Such detention orders could be issued by a district magistrate, a commissioner of police or a state-authorised police officer of at least the rank of deputy inspector general, The Indian Express reported.
The bill would also expand the definition of “anti-social” activities to include organised extortion, obstruction of business and other acts that...