Uttar Pradesh using Goondas Act as ‘tool of oppression’, says Allahabad HC

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday said that the Uttar Pradesh government had continued to use the Goonda Act, meant to control habitual criminals, as a “tool of oppression”, despite the courts’ warnings against its misuse.

Justice Subhash Vidyarthi was hearing a petition by Zahid Ali challenging an order by the Gonda district magistrate declaring him a “goonda” under the 1970 Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act and ordering him to leave the district for six months. The court set aside the order.

“The Goonda Act is a powerful tool for the control and suppression of the ‘Goondas’,” the court said. “It should be used very sparingly in very clear cases of public disorder or for the maintenance of public order.”

It added that the courts have repeatedly held that the act should not be used as a tool to oppress innocent persons and is intended to prevent habitual criminal activity, rather than punish a person without a conviction for a substantial offence.

“The present case is a glaring example of the abuse of the aforesaid statute,” the court said.

The court noted that Ali had already been acquitted in one of the two cases cited by the police to declare him a “goonda”. It said a person cannot be declared a...

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