Maharashtra focal point of urban Maoist activity, 64 groups active: Govt to court

In an affidavit, the Maharashtra government said the Special Public Security Act was brought in to provide a robust legal framework to prevent and tackle unlawful, subversive and extremist activities.Maharashtra govt calls state hub for urban Maoist activities with 64 active groups.Mumbai,Oct 7, 2026 11:44 ISTThe Maharashtra government has told the Bombay High Court that the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act was introduced because the state has become the "focal point of urban Maoist" activities, with 64 active frontal organisations operating there, the highest in the country.In an affidavit filed on Tuesday, the government said the law was brought in to provide a robust legal framework to prevent and tackle unlawful, subversive and extremist activities.The affidavit was filed in response to a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act. The petitions have been filed by the Congress, the Communist Party of India and some social activists, who have argued that the law gives the executive sweeping powers to ban organisations and attach their properties on the basis of vague and overly broad definitions.According to the government, the growing presence of "urban Maoist" networks across Maharashtra made a special legal framework necessary to tackle unlawful and subversive activities. Relying on data collated by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the affidavit said Maharashtra had emerged as a "focal point for urban Maoist activities" and claimed that 64 active frontal organisations were operating in the state, the highest number in the country."The legislation seeks to strike a balance between fundamental liberties and the state's duty to protect public order and national integrity," the affidavit stated. The government has asked the high court to dismiss the petitions, arguing that the petitioners have not suffered any direct legal injury. A bench of Chief Justice MC Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna on Tuesday granted the petitioners time to file their rejoinder to the government's affidavit.The act, passed by the state assembly last July and assented to by President Droupadi Murmu in December, seeks to provide for the effective prevention of certain unlawful activities of Left Wing Extremist organisations or similar bodies.The law lists four offences for which a person can be punished: being a member of an unlawful organisation; raising funds for such an organisation despite not being a member; assisting in its management; or committing an unlawful activity. It also empowers the state government to declare any suspected organisation an "unlawful organisation".The case in the high court centres on the state's defence of the law and the petitioners' challenge to the scope of the powers it grants.- Ends