A Constitutional Analysis of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024
By Bhavya Ved Parihar, 5 th year Law student The recently enacted Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024, by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, aims to address the threats being posed by allegedly "Left Wing Extremist organisations or similar organisations." The aim of maintaining public security and defending against extremism is constitutionally legitimate. But the means adopted here in this act are seriously constitutionally and legally questionable. Legally, more so in the view of constitutional law as well as of civil rights, the Bill is objectionable. It is characterized by vagueness, overbreadth, excessive limitation on fundamental rights, lack of procedural protection, and undue vesting of power in the executive. 1. Vagueness and the Principle of Legal Certainty One of the characteristics of a minimal requirement of a just criminal justice system is that the law itself should be clear and not ambiguous. The Maharashtra Bill, however, employs the undefined ...