Court No. - 48

Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 2320 of

2021

Petitioner :- Anand Alias Anand Kumar

Respondent :- State Of U P And 2 Others

Counsel for Petitioner :- Upendra Kumar Tiwari

Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.

Hon'ble Suneet Kumar,J.

Hon'ble Syed Waiz Mian,J.

Heard learned counsel for the petitioner and learned AGA.

By the instant writ petition, the petitioner seeks the following

relief:

"(a) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari to quash the

first information report dated 31.10.2020, registered as Case Crime

No.330 of 2020, under Section 3(1) Uttar Pradesh Gangster and Anti-

Social Activities Prevention Act 1986, Police Station Kohna, District

Kanpur Nagar."

This Court on 22.03.2021 granted interim protection to the

petitioner, the order reads as thus:

"By this writ petition, a challenge is made to registration in Case Crime

No. 330 of 2020 for offence under Section 3(1) under U.P. Gangster and

Anti-social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, Police Station- Kohna,

District Kanpur Nagar.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that only one case was earlier

registered against the petitioner in which he is on bail. Based on solitary

case, F.I.R. under U.P. Gangster and Anti-social Activities (Prevention)

Act, 1986 could not have been registered.

Learned A.G.A. submits that earlier in similar matters, 5th April, 2021 has

been fixed. Accordingly, this writ petition be listed on 5th April, 2021 as

fresh.

Till the next date of listing or till submission of the police report under

Section 173(2) Cr.P.C., whichever is earlier, the petitioner would not be

arrested pursuant to the impugned F.I.R."

Learned counsel for the petitioner vehemently contended that

only on the basis of solitary case, the proceeding under Section

3(1) of U.P. Gangster Act (for short 'Gangster Act') has been

drawn, which is liable to be set aside.

Learned A.G.A. on instructions submits that in the present

matter the charge sheet has been submitted and as such the

reliefs claimed in the writ petition no more survives.

As has been propounded by Division Bench in Criminal Misc.

Writ Petition No. 4622 of 2019 (Somvir Vs. State of U.P. and

2 others) as well as in many judgments by this Court that even

a single case, if fulfills the category of offences given under

Section 2(b) (i) to (xv) of Act and is being committed by gang

defined under Section 2 (b) or gangster defined under Section 2

(c) of the Act may be basis for registration of case crime

number for offence punishable under Section 2/3 of Gangster

Act. Therefore, the contention of petitioner that based on

solitary case, the imposition of Section 2/3 of Gangster Act is

not leviable, would have no bearing.

Recently, Division Bench of Supreme Court in Shraddha

Gupta Versus State of Uttar Pradesh and others, 2022 SCC

OnLine SC 514, had an occasion to consider as to whether

prosecution under the Gangster Act can be initiated against a

person even in case of single offence/FIR/charge sheet for any

of the anti-social activities mentioned in Section 2(b) of the

Gangster Act. The relevant portion of the order reads thus:

"On a fair reading of the definitions of 'Gang' contained in Section 2(b)

and 'Gangster' contained in Section 2(c) of the Gangsters Act, a

'Gangster' means a member or leader or organiser of a gang including

any person who abets or assists in the activities of a gang enumerated in

clause (b) of Section 2, who either acting singly or collectively commits

and indulges in any of the anti-social activities mentioned in Section 2(b)

can be said to have committed the offence under the Gangsters Act and

can be prosecuted and punished for the offence under the Gangsters Act.

There is no specific provision under the Gangsters Act, 1986 like the

specific provisions under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime

Act, 1999 and the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organized Crime Act,

2015 that while prosecut