Omar Rashid 
New Delhi: A district magistrate (DM) in Uttar Pradesh was shunted out after being pulled up by the Allahabad high court for approving action under the stringent anti-gangsters law against nine persons — all of them Muslims — without following due procedure. Further, the court has quashed the FIRs against the persons in two separate cases (five were named in one FIR and four in another).
During the course of the hearing, the court reprimanded Amroha DM, Rajesh Kumar Tyagi, and sought answers from the state government after seven of the accused persons filed three separate petitions seeking the quashing of the two FIRs and the gang charts lodged against them by the police and administration in Amroha. A gang chart is a record that the police administration creates designating a person or persons as leaders or members of a gang before booking them under the Gangsters Act.
On September 24 (Tuesday), a high court division bench of Justices Vivek Kumar Birla and Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal quashed the two FIRs against the accused persons lodged under section 3 (1) of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, at Didauli police station in Amroha. The charges under the Gangsters Act had been slapped against them after they were booked for allegedly stealing motorbikes and cars.
The high court ruled that the gang charts in the case were prepared “absolutely in violation” of the rules of the Gangsters Act formed in 2021. The Amroha DM had approved the gang charts by signing the “pre-typed satisfaction” without even signing his own approval or recording his satisfaction.
On Tuesday, the state government also disclosed that it had transferred DM Tyagi after concluding that the “main lacuna” in the matter was found on the part of the DM, who had approved the gang chart against the accused persons without signing it or recording any satisfaction, as mandated by the rules under the Act. Tyagi was transferred earlier this month from Amroha and attached to the secretariat and has not been given any field posting, the state government said.
The matter relates to two FIRs lodged under the Gangsters Act by police earlier this year and their related gang charts. The first FIR was lodged on April 4 against five persons — Tansir, Tamsir, Zainul, Anas and Asif. The police claimed that under Tansir’s leadership, they ran a “gang” that was involved in stealing cars and bikes.
The second FIR was lodged against four persons — Chahat, Osama, Danish and Noor — on similar charges on August 13.
One of the accused persons, Asif, filed a petition against the FIR and argued that while preparing and approving the gang chart in the case, the DM and the superintendent of police (SP) did not record their ‘satisfaction’ and thereby violated the rules formulated under the Gangsters Act in 2021 as well as the procedural guidelines issued by the high court in relation with the law.
In August, the high court noted that while forwarding the gang chart, the SP and DM of Amroha did not record any kind of satisfaction before approving the chart, as mandated by rule 16 of the Uttar Pradesh Gangster and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Rules, 2021. The DM also “did not look into the satisfaction recorded” by the SP, the court said, describing it as “sheer negligence” on behalf of the official.
Ever since the Adityanath government came to power in 2017, it has slapped the Gangsters Act against common citizens as well as political opponents in an unfettered manner. In several cases, the high court has criticised the government for misusing the law and lodging FIRs under it frivolously and without following due procedure.
In the Sanni Mishra versus State of Uttar Pradesh case, 2024, the high court had issued detailed guidelines regarding the recording of satisfaction by the competent authority at the time of approving the gang chart on the basis of which the Gangsters Act is slapped against a person.
On January 19, the state’s director general of police and on January 21, the chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh had issued circulars to all the DMs for compliance of the guidelines in the Sanni Mishra case.
In the Amroha case, the high court noted that despite the circulars by the state top cop and government, the SP and DM of the district failed to comply with the directions while preparing the gang chart and invoked the Gangsters Act against Asif and others.
Rule 64 of the 2021 Rules provides for three-tier committees to supervise and review the proceeding under the Gangsters Act. These committees, formed at the district, divisional commissioner and state levels, are mandated to compulsorily review the invocation of the Gangsters Act against a person and if any mistake is committed in preparing the gang chart, it is the duty of these committees to take an appropriate decision.
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Tyagi (now transferred) in an affidavit informed the court that though he was aware of the state government circular regarding the guidelines in the Gangsters Act, he could not record the ‘proper satisfaction’ while approving the gang chart “inadvertently because of his engagement” in the Lok Sabha election. Tyagi said that he simply signed the pre-typed approval.
The Divisional Commissioner of Moradabad, under whose jurisdiction Amroha falls, also submitted a similar explanation. But the high court was not satisfied.
Last month, the court noted that it had come across a number of cases from Amroha where the DM and SP had not properly prepared the gang chart in accordance with the 2021 rules and invoked the Gangsters Act without following the due procedure.
All this had created a “lacuna” in the preparation of the gang-chart “which ultimately helped the criminals” to get the proceedings under the Gangsters Act quashed, noted the high court on August 6.
“This is a very sorry state of affairs,” said Justices Birla and Deshwal.
The additional chief secretary (home) Uttar Pradesh, admitted in court that there were “certain lacunae” while preparing the gang chart and that necessary steps had been taken by issuing appropriate directions.
The SP of Amroha submitted in court that although he was aware of the guidelines and government circulars, he could not follow them due to “inadvertent negligence.” In an affidavit, the SP also expressed his regret and an unconditional apology.
In the concluding hearing in the matter on September 24, the court said that it had left it to the state government to take appropriate action against the officers.
While quashing the FIRs and the gang charts in Amroha, the high court, however, said the authorities were free to initiate fresh proceedings under the Gangsters Act against the accused persons after following proper guidelines and as per the 2021 rules.