The President, Mr. V. V. Giri, to-day [November 22, New Delhi] gave his assent to the West Bengal Prevention of Violent Activities Bill which gives special powers to the State administration to curb extremists’ activities. The Bill, which was discussed by the West Bengal Consultative Committee of MPs, has now become a Presidential Act, and it comes into effect immediately. The Act is expected to be presented to Parliament to-morrow. The Bill is a modified version of the old Preventive Detention Act. It will enable the authorities to take into custody anyone who indulges in violence or incites violent activity against the State Government. The Bill provides for certain safeguards to detenus. One such safeguard provides that the case of each person who has been detained should be referred to an advisory board to be constituted by the Government. The decision of the board will final. Eight M.Ps. belonging to the Left Opposition earlier in the day met the President and urged him to withhold assent to the Bill. In a 30-minute meeting with the President, they said the two Bills were “Draconian in their character,” and gave “unbridled powers” to the State police. The members were: Mr. Hiren Mukherjee, Mr. Indrajit Gupta, Mr. Bhupesh Gupta, Mr. Kalyan Roy (all C.P.I.), Mr. Jyotirmoy Bosu (C.P.M.), Mr Chitta Basu (Forward Bloc), Mr. Deven Sen (S.S.P.) and Mr. Tridib Kumar Choudhary (R.S.P).
