Trend Of Political Parties Welcoming Gangsters, Giving Them Election Tickets Needs To Be Stopped: Allahabad High Court

The Bench of Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava made these observations as it denied bail to two UP Police officials, SO Vinay Kumar Tiwari & Beat Officer Krishna Kumar Sharma, who are facing conspiring charges in connection with the ambush in Bikru village on July 3, 2020, in which eight policemen were gunned down by Gangster Vikas Dubey.

'Who Will Police The Police?' Allahabad High Court Denies Bail To 2 UP Cops In Bikru Encounter Conspiracy Case

Court's significant observations

The Court opined that all the political parties should sit and take a decision that gangsters and criminals will be discouraged in politics and no political party will give tickets to them in public elections.

"The political parties should rise to the occasion and must guide themselves keeping in view that there cannot be a concept of 'my criminal' and 'his criminal' or 'my man' and 'his man', as a gangster is gangster only and is required to be condemned from all corners and even people/voters should also take note of it while making their choice for a candidate in a general election," observed the Court.

Apart from this, the Court also cautioned the voters to be careful while choosing their representatives as the Court noted thus:

"We must have the idea in mind that if we are entrusted with the responsibility of nation-building, our responsibility is to think about the future generation to whom we have to hand over a legacy. We need to ponder what kind of nation and society we want to leave for our future generation."

Opining that crime, corruption, and population are three major problems the society is facing at present, the Court further went on to states that against crime and corruption, the State must continue with the policy of zero tolerance.

"Strict and rigorous steps have to been taken to break and demolish the financial network of gangsters. In future, this shall certainly bring about more and more positive results towards restricting criminal activities and organized crime."

Against this backdrop, the Court also took into account the real difficulty being faced by the police department in combating organized crime and criminal activities.

"The Court is of the opinion that the police personnel are mostly not provided with that kind of sophisticated arms which are available in plenty to the gangsters and their gang members. The police stations are mostly under-manned and the strength of police force is remarkably less in comparison to the population. The police have to act in accordance with legal norms and while acting so, they are required to avoid any excesses and human rights violation," the Court added.

The Bench of Justice Pradeep Kumar Srivastava also observed that it is not an unknown phenomenon that there are policemen, maybe very few in numbers, who show their loyalty more to such gangsters than to their department for the reasons best known to them.

"Such policemen tarnish the image, name, and fame of police and it is necessary that suspicious police personnel should be taken to task and their conduct should be regularly monitored for which a mechanism should be evolved, and if it exists already, the same should be geared up at different levels," the Court further added.

The Court was of the view that like other departments, there has been a general fall and deterioration in the standard of functioning of the police force also and that some police leak the confidential information and strategy of police for taking action and conducting raids to arrest the gangsters.

The Court also opined that with time, it has been seen that the police force, not as a whole, but in small groups, has gone through a phase of moral and professional deterioration.

"There are black sheep also in the police force and they reflect upon the whole department which has led to growing concern, and a number of attempts have been made to mend this situation," observed the Court.

Lastly, in such a situation, the Court added, policing such police personnel is a big task and it requires early identification of such black sheep, monitoring of their conduct, isolating them, and taking immediate strict disciplinary action against them.