New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to respond to a plea challenging the constitutional validity of Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act of 1986.
A bench headed by justice BR Gavai issued notice to the government on a plea which contends that the Act allows the police to be the complainant, prosecutor and adjudicator, and go about attaching the entire property of the accused. It may be mentioned here that a similar public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2022 is already pending before the apex court.
The instant PIL has challenged sections 3, 12 and 14 of the Act as well as rules 16(3), 22, 35, 37(3) and 40 of the 2021 Rules, which deal with registration of cases, attachment of properties, investigation and trial. Rule 22 says a single act or omission will be sufficient to register a first information report under the Act, thereby rendering the criminal history of the accused irrelevant.
This is violative of fundamental rights, the petitioner has contended. It has been argued that the re-registration of an FIR under the Act against a person who has committed a crime and against whom an FIR has already been registered amounts to double jeopardy and is a violation of Article 20(2).
