HC: Nothing illegal in FIR under Gangster Act on the basis of single case

The plea of the petitioners was that they had been made accused in the impugned FIRs which had been lodged under the provisions of the Gangster Act on the basis of their involvement in a solitary case.

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court has held that the lodging of a First Information Report (FIR) under Gangster Act on the basis of the involvement of a person in a single criminal case is valid and permissible under law.

The court dismissed the bunch of petitions as it didn’t find any illegality in the FIRs registered. (Pic for representation)

While dismissing the bunch of 12 writ petitions filed by Ritesh Kumar alias Rikki and others, a division bench comprising justices Pritinker Diwaker and Samit Gopal said, “In a petition under Article 226 (writ jurisdiction) of the Constitution of India, the high court cannot adjudicate the correctness of the allegations in the impugned first information reports or the cases on the basis of which the impugned first information reports have been lodged”.

The plea of the petitioners was that they had been made accused in the impugned FIRs which had been lodged under the provisions of the Gangster Act on the basis of their involvement in a solitary case. Therefore, the impugned FIRs were illegal and against the essence of the Gangster Act.

The petitioners’ counsel argued, “The said First Information Report could not have been lodged on the basis of a solitary case and as such the writ petitions should be allowed and the respective impugned FIRs should be quashed.”

After hearing concerned parties, the court dismissed the bunch of petitions as it didn’t find any illegality in the FIRs registered.

The court gave this decision on August 5.