The rule of law has one simple rule: A law must first become law. But was that the case for Bengal’s much talked about ‘Goonda Act’?
West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari claimed in the state assembly on July 25 that the state had invoked the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2026 — referred to by the government as the ‘Goonda Act’ or ‘Anti-Goonda Act’ — against those accused of orchestrating violence during the July 24 protest rally at Esplanade. However, Alt News examined all seven FIRs and the police remand papers relating to the 16 arrested individuals and found no mention of the Act.
Alt News’s investigation found that there is one fundamental flaw in the chief minister’s claim: The “Anti-Goonda Act” is not yet law.
Advocates who appeared before the Calcutta high court in two separate PILs told Alt News that the state itself acknowledged in court that the Bill had not yet become an Act. The investigating officer in the July 24 violence case also confirmed that the legislation is “not enforceable” as it has not come in force yet.
The July 24 Rally and CM’s Response
On July 24, eight Left student organisations, along with members of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), organised a protest march from Sealdah to Esplanade demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation and condemning the police action against protestors in Delhi on July 20. Violence broke out around the time the march concluded, during which several journalists were allegedly assaulted.
The next day, Adhikari informed the assembly that seven cases had been registered and repeatedly asserted that the newly passed “Goonda Daman Act” had been invoked in all of them. He then escalated his rhetoric, naming five accused persons, calling them “goondas” (goons) and declaring that the state would take such action under the law that “these goons and even their next three generations will remember it.” He also claimed that the Governor had already assented to the legislation, allowing it to come into force.
The assembly statement capped nearly two weeks of public assertions by the chief minister that the Bill had already become law. From July 10 onwards, he repeatedly maintained that the Governor had approved the Bill and that it had come into force. Several media organisations, including The Indian Express, The New Indian Express, and Deccan Herald, subsequently reported that the Bill had become an Act and had been invoked against those arrested in connection with the July 24 violence.
Alt News’s investigation, however, found that these claims do not withstand legal scrutiny.
Why the ‘Anti-Goonda Act’ is not Yet Law
The West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, 2026 or the Anti-Goonda Bill, provides for preventive detention of alleged offenders for up to 12 months. The West Bengal Maintenance of Public Order (Amendment) Bill, 2026, on the other hand, empowers authorities to auction properties linked to persons accused of destructive activities to recover damages. Both Bills were passed by the assembly on June 29.
However, passage in the assembly alone does not make a Bill law. It must receive the constitutionally required assent and be notified in the official gazette before it can be enforced. Alt News looked for a gazette notification of the legislation in all possible sources, but could not find it.
We then independently examined all seven FIRs and the police remand papers relating to the 16 people arrested in connection with the July 24 violence and found that none invoked the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act, 2026, contrary to the chief minister’s claim. All 16 accused were granted bail on July 28. Had the proposed law been in force, authorities could have sought preventive detention for up to 12 months.
In fact, the state government’s own submissions before the Calcutta high court also appear to contradict the chief minister’s public claim.
Alt News found that, on July 13, the All India Lawyers Union and others filed a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the constitutional validity of the proposed Anti-Goonda law. Advocate Samim Ahammed, who appeared for the petitioners, told Alt News that during the hearing on July 22, the state’s additional advocate general, Billawadal Bhattacharyya, informed the high court that the Bill had not yet received the Governor’s assent and therefore had not become an Act. The court consequently adjourned the case until August 6, permitting the state to place the Act on record once it comes into force.
“The state itself submitted before the high court that the Bill had not yet received the Governor’s assent. Since there was no Act in force, the court adjourned the matter and permitted the respondents to file a supplementary affidavit once the Act comes into existence,” Ahammed told Alt News.
A second PIL, filed by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), encountered the same hurdle. During the hearing on July 27, advocate Sabysachi Chatterjee requested the Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chatterjee and Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee to direct the state to provide the Gazette notification bringing the Act into force. According to Chatterjee, the state failed to produce any such notification.
“I was aware that the so-called Anti-Goonda Act had not been notified in the Official Gazette, and therefore urged the court to direct the respondents to produce the Gazette notification. When the judges asked the state to produce it, the state could not communicate its position clearly… we can construe that there is no Gazette notification.”
“There has been no Gazette notification. The chief minister has been just thumping his chest for nothing, and has simply been misleading the public,” he added.
Chatterjee said the Bill’s preventive detention provisions would require Presidential assent before they could become law because they override the constitutional framework governing preventive detention. “According to Article 22 of the Constitution, the state is permitted to enact preventive detention laws for up to three months. However, this Bill proposes a detention period of twelve months, which exceeds the three-month limit. This effectively overrides the concurrent list, making it necessary to obtain assent from the President for the Bill to become law,” he explained.
Ranjit Sur, a human rights activist associated with APDR who is one of the petitioners, said the high court did not proceed with the challenge because there was no law in force to examine.
“The court did not hear the petition because there was no Gazette notification; therefore, it was deemed a premature petition, as the Bill has not yet become law,” Sur told Alt News, adding that the matter has now been listed for August 6. Sur reiterated that after a Bill receives the required assent, it must also be notified in the official gazette specifying the date from which it comes into force before it can be enforced.
Alt News contacted West Bengal advocate general Surajit Nath Mitra and asked him whether the said Bill had received the governor’s assent, and if it had, why it had not been notified. Mitra refused to comment. Multiple calls to additional advocate general Billwadal Bhattacharya went unanswered.
We went through live recordings of high court proceedings from July 22 and July 27, and found that the relevant parts had been muted.
Alt News then spoke to Kolkata Police SI Ganesh Mondal of Hare Street police station, the investigative officer in the case related to the alleged violence on July 24. We asked him why there was no mention of the Goonda Act in the case documents.
Mondal told Alt News on July 31, “The anti-goonda act is not enforceable. It is not an Act yet. We have not received any notification confirming the enforceability of the act.”
Alt News also contacted the Bengal Governor’s office to ask if the Governor had given his assent to the Bill. A representative at the deputy secretary’s office said, “Had the assent been given, it would have been announced through a gazette notification. As long as there is no notification, there is no question…”
To sum up, the absence of a Gazette notification, the state’s own submissions before the high court and the investigating officer’s admission that the legislation is “not enforceable” — Alt News’s findings points to the same conclusion: The proposed Anti-Goonda law has not yet become law.
Even a law, it turns out, has to take its own course.
This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Ankita Mahalanobish.
Ankita Mahalanobish | Radio Free (2026-08-03T13:43:35+00:00) The law Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari ‘invoked’ against July 24 protesters is not yet law. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2026/08/03/the-law-bengal-cm-suvendu-adhikari-invoked-against-july-24-protesters-is-not-yet-law/
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