Apprise District Magistrates About Guidelines & Directions Regarding Preparation Of Gang Chart For Invocation Of Gangsters Act: Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court quashed the impugned FIR registered under Sections 2(b)(i) and 3 of the U.P. Gangster Act and Anti Social Activities (Prevention) Act.
The Allahabad High Court has directed the Chief Secretary, Government of U.P., to apprise all the District Magistrates about the guidelines and directions issued by the High Court and Supreme Court regarding the preparation of a gang chart for the invocation of the Gangsters Act.
The Court allowed the Petition, quashing the impugned FIR registered under Sections 2(b)(i) and 3 of the U.P. Gangster Act and Anti Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 (the Act).
A Division Bench of Justice Alok Mathur and Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal directed, “A perusal of gang chart also shows that the District Magistrate, Lakhimpur Kheri has approved the gang chart on 21.03.2025. This fact shows that a training programme conducted by the State Government has no effect on the District Magistrate, Lakhimpur Kheri and even she ignored the guidelines of the State Government dated 02.12.2024 and approved the gang chart in utter violation of the direction issued by the High Court Allahabad as well as Supreme Court. Therefore, Chief Secretary, Govt. of U.P. is directed to look into this issue and shall apprise all the District Magistrates about the guidelines and directions issued by the High Court and Supreme Court regarding preparation of gang chart for invocation of Gangsters Act and if requires, a fresh training programme be initiated for the competent authorities under the Gangsters Act.”
Advocate Syed Raza Mehdi appeared for the Petitioner.
Brief Facts
The Petitioner argued that the gang chart of the impugned FIR explicitly showed that the District Magistrate had not recorded the satisfaction while approving the gang chart as required by the Act.
Court’s Reasoning
The High Court stated, “In the present case, from the perusal of the gang chart, it is clear that while approving the gang chart, the District Magistrate simply mentioned “discussed with Superintendent of Police and Committee and proposal approved”. This is absolutely nonapplication of mind and also not in consonance with the U.P. Gangster Rules as well as clear violation of judgements of this Court in Sunni Mishra @ Sanjayan Kumar Mishra (supra) and Abdul Lateef @ Mustak Khan (supra) as well as the judgements of Supreme Court in the case of Vinod Bihari Lal (supra) and Lal Mohammad (supra).”
“The Apex court in the recent judgement of Lal Mohammad and another vs State of U.P. and another in SLP (Crl) No. 6607 of 2023 dated 14.05.2025 again observed that constitutional guarantee of personal liberty acquires great significance when extraordinary legislation with stringent provision, such as U.P. Gangsters Act is invoked. The power conferred upon the State cannot be wielded as an instrument of harassment or intimidation. Therefore, while invoking the Gangsters Act, the procedural safeguard must be strictly followed,” the Bench emphasised.
The Bench held, “From the above analysis, it is clear that the gang chart of the impugned F.I.R. itself is prepared in violation to the Rules, 2021 as well as the direction issued by Co-ordinate Bench of this Court in Sanni Mishra @ Sanjayan Kumar Mishra (supra) and Abdul Lateef @ Mustak Khan (supra) as well as the judgements of the Apex Court in the case of Vinod Bihari Lal (supra) and Lal Mohammad (supra) and also against the guidelines dated 02.12.2024 of Government of U.P.. Therefore, the gang chart as well as the impugned F.I.R. are liable to be quashed.”
Consequently, the Court ordered, “However, in the present case the authority concerned is at liberty to initiate fresh proceedings under The U.P. Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 after preparing the gang chart in accordance with the law as mentioned above.”
Accordingly, the High Court allowed the Petition.
Cause Title: Shabbir Husain & Anr. v. State Of U.P. & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2025:AHC-LKO:36793-DB)
