MP high court issues notice over dacoity Act as 1,000 booked after dacoits vanished
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has sought an explanation over 1,000 bookings under a 45-year-old dacoity law despite the state being declared dacoit-free.
The Madhya Pradesh high court has sought an explanation from the state government on why the 45-year-old Madhya Pradesh Dacoity and Kidnapping Affected Areas Act should not be struck down, after a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) highlighted that more than 1,000 people have been booked under it since 2020 despite the state being declared dacoit-free.
The MP High Court issued show-cause notices after a PIL said over 1,000 people were booked under the dacoity law between 2020 and 2026.
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The Madhya Pradesh High Court, Gwalior bench, issued show-cause notices to the home department, director general of police, and superintendents of police of the Chambal and Gwalior ranges, asking why the law should not be struck down.
A divisional bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia and Justice Anuradha Shukla directed the state government to submit the status of pending cases under the Act. The notices were issued on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by former home minister and Congress leader Govind Singh, who sought to have the Act declared unconstitutional and repealed.
“The law was enacted to deal with dacoits who no longer exist. Yet Sections 11 and 13, which are non-bailable, are invoked even in ordinary property disputes, thefts, or altercations to suppress rights. Innocent citizens are denied anticipatory bail, violating fundamental rights to equality and personal liberty,” Singh said.
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Petitioner’s counsel Rajeev Sharma said that the Act was introduced in October 1981 to curb dacoity and kidnappings in the forests of the Gwalior, Chambal, and Vindhya regions.
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Petitioner’s counsel Rajeev Sharma said that the Act was introduced in October 1981 to curb dacoity and kidnappings in the forests of the Gwalior, Chambal, and Vindhya regions.
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“It provided for stringent punishment and special courts. However, in 2017, then home minister Bhupendra Singh told the assembly that all dacoit gangs had been eliminated. In 2022, then chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan declared Madhya Pradesh a dacoit-free state,” he said.
“When there are no dacoits, why are people still being booked under this Act?” Sharma said in the PIL, citing home department data that shows more than 1,000 people charged under the law between 2020 and 2026 across six districts, including Shivpuri, Datia, Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, and Sheopur.
I have spent over a decade chronicling Madhya Pradesh’s political and social landscape, covering politics, investigative journalism, crime, human interest, and government policy, blending sharp insight with ground‑level depth. I have closely tracked three assembly elections, three Lok Sabha elections, leadership transitions in MP while exposing governance lapses, tender irregularities, and flawed policy rollouts. My reports have revealed gaps in the Cheetah project, irregularities in medical education, rigging in recruitment exams, and loopholes in policy implementation. In crime reporting, I have moved beyond FIRs to map systemic patterns — from organised crime networks and gender‑based violence to custodial accountability — balancing urgency with sensitivity. My journalism is defined by a commitment to human interest. I have profiled the marginalised Bancchda community, documented atrocities against tribal groups, and highlighted efforts to preserve their culture through heritage liquor and revival of spiritual practices. I have reported on farmers struggling with failed MSP promises, giving voice to those often reduced to statistics in policy files. Passionate about field reporting, I have reported on rampant sand mining in Chambal and Narmada, pharmaceutical companies supplying medicines under altered names, the dire condition of schools and colleges, the plight of commercial sex workers, and skewed sex ratios in specific districts. Beyond deadlines, and as HT’s state correspondent and assistant editor in Madhya Pradesh, I engage with ministers, farmers, students, and activists, believing the best policy stories begin with a single human voice. A postgraduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, I also hold a diploma in sports journalism.
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Home/India News/MP high court issues notice over dacoity Act as 1,000 booked after dacoits vanished
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