Supreme Court holds UP Gangsters Act 'stillborn'
A two-judge Supreme Court Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran ruled on August 20 that the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 is 'stillborn' and proceedings under it cannot survive. The Court held that the Act created no offence, leaving the determination of who is a gangster to executive-made rules and gang charts.
Syllabus: GS2 · Constitution; GS2 · Separation of Powers; Prelims · Polity & Governance
Why it matters
Consider a person in Uttar Pradesh accused in a single criminal case. Under the gang-chart system, police could open a Gangsters Act case on top, keep the person on remand for up to a year without closing the investigation, and seek a minimum two-year sentence even after an acquittal on the predicate offence. The Court called the end of such a trial 'a foregone conclusion'. It has now held that proceedings under the Act cannot survive, while the underlying crime is still tried under its own law. The wider issue is the principle of legality: only a legislature can define a crime, and the executive cannot create one through rules.
Prelims pointers
- Article 20(1): no conviction except for breaking a law in force when the act was done, and no penalty heavier than that law then allowed.
- Nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege: no crime and no punishment without a prior law; the Court said Article 20(1) embodies this principle of legality.
- General Clauses Act, 1897: an 'offence' is any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force.
- Article 20(2) bars double jeopardy and Article 20(3) compelled self-incrimination; since the 44th Amendment (1978), Articles 20 and 21 cannot be suspended in an Emergency.
- Seventh Schedule: public order and police are in the State List; criminal law and criminal procedure are in the Concurrent List.
- Subordinate legislation must stay within its parent Act; a rule that goes beyond the Act's rule-making power is ultra vires and void.
- Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 makes organised crime itself an offence under Section 3; the Court cited it only as a contrast, without upholding it.
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to Article 20(1) of the Constitution of India, consider the following statements:
1. It bars conviction for an act that was not an offence under the law in force when it was done.
2. It bars a penalty heavier than the one prescribed by the law in force when the offence was committed.
3. Its protection is available to citizens of India but not to foreigners living in India.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 3 only
- (c) 1 and 3 only
- (d) 1, 2 and 3
Show the answer
Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only
1 is correct: Article 20(1) forbids conviction except for breaking a law in force at the time of the act, the bar on ex post facto criminal laws that rests on the principle of legality. 2 is correct: it also forbids a penalty greater than the one that law prescribed at the time. 3 is incorrect: Article 20 speaks of 'no person', so it protects foreigners as well as citizens.
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