MUMBAI, Sept. 9 -- The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to submit its response to petitions filed by political parties and trade unions challenging the controversial Maharashtra Special Public Security Act, 2025, which was enacted to curb the activities of "left-wing extremist" organisations. The petitioners include the Indian National Congress, the Communist Party of India, and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). On Tuesday, when the petitions came up for hearing, senior advocate Navroz Seervai, appearing for the AITUC, submitted that the Act had incorporated drastic provisions with far-reaching consequences, including powers to confiscate properties and evict people from their homes. A division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata then ordered the state government to file its affidavit in reply to the petition and posted the matter for further hearing on October 6. The legislation, whose stated objective is to curb "urban Naxalism" or frontal organisations of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), was passed unanimously in the Maharashtra legislative assembly last year. It aims to enact a special law to curb "left-wing extremism", the central government's preferred term for Maoist/Naxal activities. The petitioners challenged the enactment of the law, contending that it would "suppress constitutionally protected peaceful and legitimate dissent". In its petition, the AITUC claimed the Act could target opposition parties, civil society groups and lawful dissent. "Under the guise of protecting public security, the Act introduces sweeping, over-broad, and unconstitutional restrictions upon the freedom of speech, association and assembly, the right to personal liberty and the right to property," the plea stated. The petition further sought a direction prohibiting state authorities from taking any coercive action under the Act....