Supreme Court to review plea challenging UP gangsters act FIR

PTI, May 18, 2024, 4:13 PM IST

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court which had dismissed an application seeking quashing of a charge sheet and proceedings in a case lodged under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.

A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Sanjay Kumar sought response from the Uttar Pradesh government on a plea filed by petitioner Raj Khan, against whom an FIR was lodged under the provision of the UP Gangsters Act in Pilibhit district.

”The impugned order of the high court dismissing the application of the petitioner under section 482 CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) is causing immense hardship and injustice to the petitioner as his freedom of life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India has been restrained,” said the plea, filed through advocate Tanvi Dubey.

It alleged that the FIR under the UP Gangsters Act has been registered merely on the basis of an earlier FIR, which was in total abuse of process of law. The plea said the petitioner has no criminal antecedents other than the alleged case and invoking the Gangsters Act against him was not only causing prejudice to him but would lead to ”serious misuse of the police and judicial machinery purely for personal vendetta”. ”The filing of impugned charge sheet and initiation of proceedings against the petitioner is prima facie malicious with ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance upon the petitioner due to personal grudge and him lodging a complaint with the chairman, Sunni Central Waqf Board, Uttar Pradesh with regard to financial irregularities and misdeeds…,” it said. The plea has urged the apex court to quash the charge sheet and entire proceedings of the case. ”The high court failed to consider that the petitioner who is an innocent citizen has fallen prey to the hands of miscreants for raising his voice against the fraud, misdeeds and misuse of the income generated from the Waqf properties,” it claimed.