"Sorry State Of Affairs That Authorities Not Taking Due Care To Prepare Gang-Chart, It Infringes Article 21": Allahabad High Court

This observation came by the Bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan, which was hearing the bail plea of an accused/applicant who stated that he was not an accused in few of the cases, as claimed in the Gang Chart but the police station falsely prepared the gang chart involving him applicant in the said cases.

"This is really sorry state of affairs that while preparing the gang-chart the due care and precaution has not been taken into account by the authorities concerned and the gang-chart has been prepared without verifying the relevant facts and information relating to the crime cases carefully," the Court observed.

Further, the Court opined that in the instant case, the gang-chart had been prepared in a cursory manner, which violates the fundamental rights of the accused persons provided under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The Court also noted that preparing gang chart in cursory manner creates hindrance in the disposal of the bail application inasmuch as they are not granted bail by the Courts perusing the said gang-chart.

"The Court draws inference on the basis of that gang-chart, which is actually incorrect," added the Court.

Therefore, the Superintendent of Police, District-Sitapur was directed to file his/her personal affidavit replying the contents of the bail application explaining the reasons as to why the gang-chart against the present applicant has been prepared in a careless and lethargic manner.

The Allahabad High Court recently took serious note of "half-baked" gang-charts being filed under the UP Gangster Act 1986, that ultimately helps alleged gangsters in "easily obtaining bail", thereby threatening the order of the civil society.

A Single Bench of Justice Rahul Chaturvedi observed that in the age of internet, where information of the entire world is on one's fingertips, the concerned authorities are expected to prepare extensive gang-charts that will help the Court to effectively adjudicate bail pleas.

"The callous and careless approach in preparing the gang chart would not only adversely affect the prospects of criminal prosecution against that individual, who are harden criminals but also the very object of the enactment would also go haywire. The accused would have an easy access of the bails from the law courts," the Bench observed.

Case title - Baburam Loniya v. State of U.P.

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