West Bengal's BJP government passed the West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Act 2026 on June 29, popularly called the Gunda Daman Act. The law permits preventive detention for up to 12 months without trial for persons deemed anti-social or threats to public order. Critics argue it conflicts with Article 21 and Article 22 safeguards on personal liberty, while the government defends it as a public safety measure targeting organised crime.

Preventive detention laws occupy a unique constitutional space in India. Unlike punitive detention — where a person is jailed after conviction — preventive detention authorises the State to detain a person to prevent a future act. This power is expressly recognised under Article 22(3)–(7) of the Constitution, which carves out an exception to the general rights under Articles 21 and 22(1)–(2).

The constitutional safeguards for preventive detention are: (a) the detainee must be informed of grounds of detention as soon as practicable; (b) the detainee must be afforded the earliest opportunity to make a representation; (c) detention beyond three months requires review by an Advisory Board comprising persons qualified to be High Court judges; and (d) Parliament may by law prescribe the maximum period of detention and the procedure for the Advisory Board. Entry 3 of the Concurrent List (Seventh Schedule) permits both Parliament and State Legislatures to legislate on preventive detention. States have frequently enacted such laws — the National Security Act 1980, COFEPOSA, and various state 'Goonda Acts' are all examples.

The 12-month cap in the West Bengal Act sits at the outer edge of what Article 22(7) allows without mandatory release, making the Advisory Board mechanism and the grounds of detention the twin constitutional flashpoints. Courts have consistently held — from A.K. Gopalan (1950) to Maneka Gandhi (1978) and ADM Jabalpur (1976) — that Article 21's 'procedure established by law' must now be read as 'just, fair, and reasonable procedure.' Any preventive detention law that fails this test can be struck down. The West Bengal Act is therefore likely to face challenges on Articles 14, 19, 21, and 22.