[1][2] There is also the identically-spelled Marathi word with a similar meaning, attested as early as the 17th century, and possibly ultimately having Dravidian roots.
[13] Like the similar act in Uttar Pradesh, it provided that goondas may be ordered to leave the district ("externment") for up to six months.
[14] In particular, the Court pointed out that a person imprisoned had to be provided with a residential accommodation and subsistence at the expense of the state government, whereas the Control of Goondas Act made no provision for a goonda under externment to be provided with residential accommodation, putting him in a comparatively worse situation than a prisoner; this was held to violate the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
[15] According to a 2011 ruling of the Madras High Court, even a single offense under the Act permits detention of a person as a goonda.
But the government, in its enthusiasm, while adding acid attackers and sexual predators to the law, has also added 'digital offenders', meaning "any person who knowingly or deliberately violates, for commercial purposes, any copyright law in relation to any book, music, film, software, artistic or scientific work and also includes any person who illegally enters through the identity of another user and illegally uses any computer or digital network for pecuniary gain for himself or any other person or commits any of the offences specified under sections 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 and 75 of the Information Technology Act, 2000".
[18] The Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (Act 34 of 2007), Section 2(j), states "goonda means a person who indulges in any anti-social activity or promotes or abets any illegal activity which are harmful for the maintenance of the public order directly or indirectly and includes a bootlegger, a counterfeiter, a depredator of environment, a digital data and copyright pirate, a drug offender, a hawala racketeer, a hired ruffian, rowdy, an immoral traffic offender, a loan shark or a property grabber".
Ordinance XXXV of 1959), Section 13, establishes a list of more than twenty offences (mostly related to violence, public drunkenness, sexual crimes, and habitual counterfeiting or smuggling) under which a tribunal may declare a person a "goonda" and place his name on the prescribed list of goondas, after which he may be subject to enhanced punishment for any future offenses.