Oppression & Harassment Are Grave Sins: Allahabad HC Orders Training For UP Officials On Gangsters Act Amid Procedural Violations

This order arose from the Court's concern over widespread procedural violations in the preparation of gang charts under the UP Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Rules, 2021. The Court addressed five writ petitions challenging the preparation of gang charts by authorities, who apply the Act to individuals deemed 'gangsters' for their involvement in organized crime.

A Division Bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal expressed their frustration with the frequent breaches of procedure by state officials when applying the Gangsters Act. The Court said, “Though all the State officers cannot be blamed, but certainly there is a considerable number of State officers who are invoking the Gangsters Act without following due procedure laid down by the Rules, 2021 itself. Considering the laxity on the part of some of the State officers in preparation of the gang chart against the well established procedure laid down by the State Government, several Benches of this Court had issued directions for preparation of the gang chart as well as for invocation of the Gangsters Act”

Advocate Pankaj Kumar Chaube appeared for the Petitioners and Advocate Udisha Tripathi appeared for the Respondents.

The Court emphasized that societal laws and norms, which often stem from religious teachings, must ensure that no innocent person is unjustly punished. The Bench cited religious texts from the Rigveda, the Bible, and the Quran. The Court added, “The Rigveda teaches that Gods are on the side of the oppressed and will punish those who engage in harassment and oppression.”, “The Bible teaches that protecting the innocent and promoting justice is a fundamental aspect of faith and harassment and oppression are considered sinful behaviour.”, “The Quran teaches that protecting the innocent and promoting justice is a fundamental aspect of Islam and oppression and harassment are considered grave sins.”

While the Court acknowledged the State government's commendable policy of "zero tolerance towards crime," it criticized the failure of some officials to follow procedural guidelines, undermining the policy's objectives.

It recalled previous High Court directives that mandated thorough scrutiny of gang charts by District Magistrates and Police Chiefs and required detailed discussions and reviews before approval. The Court said, “there were specific directions to all the District Magistrates as well as District Police Chiefs to record their required satisfaction in the gang chart instead of signing a pre-typed satisfaction and it was also provided that there must be a joint meeting to conduct due discussion between the District Magistrate and the District Police Chief before approving the gang chart. It was also directed by those circulars that the competent authorities must peruse all the documents annexed with the gang chart before forwarding and approving the same.”

Despite these directives and circulars issued by the Chief Secretary and Director General of Police (DGP), the Court found that the required procedures were not being followed. Consequently, the Court issued the following, “Therefore, this Court feels it appropriate to direct the State Government to send the District Police Chiefs, District Magistrates/Police Commissioners as well as Nodal Officers, who are the competent authorities under the Gangsters Act, for training or crash course so that they could learn how to prepare a gang chart, strictly in accordance with the Rules, 2021 as well as several directions issued by this Court and also to apprise them about appropriate cases where the Gangsters Act can be invoked. This training on the one hand will reduce the scope of getting away of the gangsters from the clutches of the Gangsters Act and on the other it will save innocent persons who are merely involved in petty, one or two cases, though they would not come within the definition of the gangsters as per Section 2(b) of the Gangsters Act, from getting booked under the Gangsters Act. Such training or crash course can be conducted in a phased manner in the Judicial Training and Research Institute, Lucknow (J.T.R.I.) which can be arranged by the Principal Secretary Law/LR, Govt. of U.P. or at any other place where the State govt. may feel it appropriate.”

Cause Title: Abdul Lateef v. State of U.P. & Ors., [2024:AHC:119716-DB]

Appearance:

Petitioners: Advocates Pankaj Kumar Chaube, Rafeek Ahmad Khan, Ram Chandra Solanki, Atul Singh, Vaibhav Kumar Verma, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, Rishabh Tiwari, and Sunil Kumar Srivastava

Respondents: Advocates Udisha Tripathi, Vaibhav Tripathi, and Vinod Kumar Tripathi