The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the State of Uttar Pradesh on a petition challenging the constitutional validity of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.
The order was passed by the Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Viswanathan.
Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Counsel R Basant today contended that the Act allowed police to be the complainant, prosecutor & adjudicator, and go about attaching the entire property of an accused.
The lawyer said another public interest litigation on a similar issue was filed in the Apex Court 2022, which was yet to be heard in detail.
Filed through Advocate Ansar Ahmad Chaudhary, the PIL 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, dealing with the registration of cases, attachment of properties, investigation and trial.
As per Rule 22, a single act or omission would be sufficient to register a first information report (FIR) under the Act, thereby rendering the criminal history of the accused irrelevant.
The petition submitted that this was violative of fundamental rights, adding that 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, amounted to double jeopardy and violation of Article 20(2) of the Constitution of India.