Allahabad High Court directs State authorities, police to undergo training on UP Gangsters Act procedure

The Allahabad High Court on Friday directed the Uttar Pradesh government to send its police officials, district magistrates and nodal officers under the UP Gangsters and Anti Social Activities (Prevention) Act for training so that they learn to act in accordance with the law [Abdul Lateef @ Mustak Khan v. State of UP and 2 Others]..A Bench of Justices Siddhartha Varma and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal flagged the rampant violation of procedure in preparation of the gang chart under UP Gangsters and Anti Social Activities (Prevention) Rules, 2021.“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,” it said..The judgment was passed on a batch of five writ petitions challenging the preparation of gang charts against the accused by the authorities. The Act is invoked against persons who are termed as 'gangsters' for their illegal activities as part of gang..While dealing with the cases, the Court said that the majority of the criminal acts and rules enacted and framed by the State are substantially based on societal norms, which can be traced back to religious teachings.Such laws must be tested on the old saying that “99 accused may be acquitted, but one innocent person should not be punished,” the Bench said..While commenting on the harassment of people under the anti-gangster law, the Court referred to teachings of three different religions.It said that several verses of the Rigveda emphasise on the importance of protecting the innocent and the weak.“The Rigveda teaches that Gods are on the side of the oppressed and will punish those who engage in harassment and oppression.”The Court said both old and new testaments of the Bible condemn harassment and oppression of an innocent person. “The Bible teaches that protecting the innocent and promoting justice is a fundamental aspect of faith and harassment and oppression are considered sinful behaviour.”It also said that the Quran strictly condemns harassment and oppression of innocent people.“The Quran teaches that protecting the innocent and promoting justice is a fundamental aspect of Islam and oppression and harassment are considered grave sins.”.In this backdrop, the Court observed that though the State government’s policy of “zero tolerance towards crime” was appreciable, if some officials do not follow the procedure and guidelines, then the object of the government is bound to be defeated.It recalled that the High Court had earlier flagged the misuse of the Gangsters Act. “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 issuance of circulars by the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) to all district magistrates and police officers, the Court said the procedure was not being followed. Thus, it passed the following directions: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. This training will reduce the scope of getting away of the gangsters from the clutches of the Gangsters Act and will save persons who are merely involved in petty cases, who would not come within the definition of the gangsters as per Section 2(b) of the Gangsters Act, from getting booked under the Act. Such training or crash course can be conducted in a phased manner in the Judicial Training and Research Institute, Lucknow and can be arranged by the State government's Principal Secretary Law..Advocates Pankaj Kumar Chaube, Rafeek Ahmad Khan, Ram Chandra Solanki, Atul Singh, Vaibhav Kumar Verma, Akhilesh Kumar Mishra, Rishabh Tiwari and Sunil Kumar Srivastava represented the petitioners.Advocates Udisha Tripathi, Vaibhav Tripathi and Vinod Kumar Tripathi represented the respondents..[Read Judgment]