KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday rejected reports that President Droupadi Murmu returned the anti-goonda bill to the state government for reconsideration, and said the proposed legislation is currently "under consideration" of the Home Ministry.
Earlier reports said that the President has returned the bill after objecting to a provision which may overlap with a central anti-narcotics law.
"This is fake news. It has no basis. The bill has not reached the President and is still with the Home Ministry for its consideration," Adhikari told a press conference at the state secretariat late in the evening.
The chief minister, who was accompanied by senior bureaucrats, said that the bill is "completely crystal clear", and he is hopeful that it would receive the assent of the President.
The West Bengal Public Safety and Control of Anti-Social Activities Bill, 2026, or the anti-goonda bill, was passed in the assembly in June, substantially expanding the state’s powers to tackle organised crime, extortion, illegal mining, cybercrime and public disorder.
