“Communal laboratory”: Rajasthan’s “disturbed areas” Bill triggers outcry
The Rajasthan government’s decision to introduce a law declaring certain localities as “disturbed areas” has triggered a major political and legal controversy, with critics warning that the proposed legislation could be used to regulate demography, restrict property rights, and deepen communal divisions.
The state Cabinet has approved the draft Rajasthan Prohibition of Transfer of Immovable Property and Provisions for Protection of Tenants from Eviction from the Premises in Disturbed Areas Bill, 2026, which the government says is aimed at preventing “demographic imbalance” and “improper clustering.”
Although the Bill has not yet been made public, it is already being compared to the Gujarat Disturbed Areas Act, 1991, which has been in force for more than three decades.
The Rajasthan Law Minister has described the proposed law as a measure to maintain communal harmony. However, legal experts and civil liberties groups have long questioned the constitutional validity of the Gujarat law, which the Rajasthan Bill is modelled on.
The Gujarat High Court has repeatedly intervened to curb executive overreach under that legislation.
The Gujarat Disturbed Areas Act was enacted in 1991 after communal riots to prevent “distress sales,” forced property sales at throwaway prices due to fear or intimidation.
Under the law, the state can declare an area “disturbed” based on a history of communal violence. Once notified, any transfer of property in that area requires prior permission from the district collector. Without such approval, the transaction is void.
The collector is required to conduct an inquiry to ensure the sale is voluntary and at fair market value. However, critics argue that in practice the law allows the state to police the demographic composition of neighbourhoods and restricts the free movement and settlement of citizens, raising serious questions under Articles 14, 15 and 19 of the Constitution.
The constitutional validity of the Gujarat Act is currently under challenge before the Gujarat High Court in petitions filed in 2021 and 2022. While the court has not stayed the main law, it did strike down key parts of the 2020 amendment, which introduced vague concepts such as “proper clustering” and “demographic equilibrium.”
In January 2021, the High Court stayed those amendments, holding that they gave the administration excessive and arbitrary powers. That stay continues to operate.
Notably, the Rajasthan government’s justification for the new law uses the same language, “improper clustering,” that the Gujarat High Court has already restrained.
Through multiple rulings, the Gujarat High Court has also made it clear that the collector’s powers are limited to verifying free consent and fair market value. The court has repeatedly quashed orders where officials blocked property sales on “law and order” grounds or due to objections from neighbours.
In one 2020 case, the court overturned a collector’s decision that blocked a Hindu-to-Muslim property sale in Vadodara, ruling that police concerns about law and order were “completely out of context.”
Similar rulings were passed in 2023 and again in 2025, reiterating that the law is meant only to prevent distress sales, not to regulate community composition.
Former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot strongly attacked the BJP government, accusing it of trying to turn Rajasthan into a “communal laboratory.”
He said the law was being used to divert attention from administrative failures and warned it would depress property values and divide communities that have lived together for centuries.
“Rajasthan is known for harmony and brotherhood. Branding it as ‘disturbed’ is a deeply shameful step,” Gehlot said, adding that the BJP had shut down the previous Congress government’s Department of Peace and Non-Violence and was now replacing dialogue with polarisation.
The Rajasthan Congress has termed the proposed law unconstitutional and accused the BJP of importing the “Gujarat model” to spread fear and religious division.
State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said the government was acting on instructions from Delhi. “This is not the language of governance or the Constitution, this is the language of a political agenda,” he said.
He questioned how the government would define “disturbed” areas or demography and warned that the law violates Article 300A (right to property) and Article 14 (right to equality).
“The BJP government, upon coming to power, first shut down that department and is now imposing this law in an attempt to turn Rajasthan into a laboratory for communal experiments. Rajasthan neither faces such conditions nor is the soil here fertile for hatred. This law will devalue the property of ordinary people and work to divide societies that have lived together for centuries,” he alleged.
“Today they will say an area is disturbed, tomorrow a district, and the day after tomorrow the entire democracy will be disturbed,” he said.
Dotasra also warned that the law would discourage investment, lower land values, and damage communal harmony. “They only want to spread religious tension and gain political leverage from it,” he said.
At present, Gujarat is the only state with such a law, which critics say has often been used to prevent Muslim families from moving into Hindu-majority neighbourhoods.
