Overview
- An order issued on November 5 empowers the North and South Goa district magistrates to act under Section 3(2) of the National Security Act, taking effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.
- The authorization enables district magistrates to order preventive detention within their jurisdictions for threats to public order or state security.
- The government also constituted an NSA advisory board comprising Justice U V Bakre and former judges Sayonara Telles Laad and Vandana Tendulkar, which must review each detention within three weeks.
- Goa Police sought the delegation in September, citing inadequate preventive arrests since August 1 and pointing to violent incidents including the assault on activist Rama Kankonkar; eight suspects were arrested, seven identified as repeat offenders.
- Chief Minister Pramod Sawant directed police to submit the proposal, and reactions have mixed support with calls to ensure strict legal safeguards under a law that allows detention for up to one year.