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Allahabad HC slams UP govt over ‘persistent misuse’ of Goonda Act
The court says the Goonda Act is a “very powerful” legislation and must be invoked with great caution, only in clear cases and for maintaining public order
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Quashing an order of the Gonda district magistrate externing a Gonda resident from the district for six months in a criminal case in which he was acquitted nearly nine years ago, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court observed that the UP government has repeatedly misused the Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act, 1970, as an instrument of oppression.
Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed the judgment on September 10 on a petition filed by Zahid Ali, setting aside both the district magistrate’s order dated May 11, 2026, and the divisional commissioner’s appellate order of August 12, 2026, which upheld the DM’s decision.
The court said the Goonda Act is a “very powerful” legislation and must be invoked with great caution, only in clear cases and for maintaining public order.
The bench observed that “numerous cases are being presented before this court, indicating that the State is persistent in its approach of using the Goonda Act as a tool of oppression,” calling Ali’s case “a glaring example of the abuse of the aforesaid statute.”
The externment order rested on Ali’s alleged involvement in two criminal cases: a 2010 case involving assault and intimidation charges, and a 2020 case linked to rioting, property damage, and violations under the Disaster Management Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act.
The high court found that Ali had already been acquitted in the 2010 case by the chief judicial magistrate, Gonda, in August 2017. It observed that a case in which a person had already been acquitted could not subsequently be used as a ground to declare him a goonda.
The court also took exception to the police report mentioning the case in which Ali had already been acquitted, observing that it indicated that an incorrect picture of the petitioner had been placed before the DM.
It reiterated that the Goonda Act is preventive, not punitive, and cannot substitute for prosecution under ordinary criminal law. Holding that the orders passed by both the DM and the commissioner were legally unsustainable, the high court quashed them and allowed Ali’s petition.
