India, July 12 -- The passage of the Maharashtra Special Public Security Act (SPSA) in the state legislature has evoked sharp reactions from civil society groups, which say they will challenge the law in the courts and won't hesitate to take their protest to the streets.

The law has also exposed cracks within the opposition, as the bill was supported by opposition parties in the legislative assembly on Thursday but opposed in the legislative council on Friday, even as the ruling parties cleared it in the upper house.

Civil society groups and social organisations, which have opposed the law ever since the draft bill was first tabled in the legislature last year, had submitted more than 12,300 objections to the proposed legislation. They ...