Allahabad High Court
Monu @ Khemchandra vs State Of U.P. And 3 Others on 5 October, 2023
Bench: Rahul Chaturvedi, Mohd. Azhar Idrisi
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:192265-DB
Court No. - 67
Case :- CRIMINAL MISC. WRIT PETITION No. - 14703 of 2023
Petitioner :- Monu @ Khemchandra
Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others
Counsel for Petitioner :- Krishna Kant Dubey,Santosh Kumar Dubey
Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.
Hon'ble Rahul Chaturvedi,J.
Hon'ble Mohd. Azhar Husain Idrisi,J.
Heard Sri Krishna Kant Dubey, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record.
By means of the present writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner is assailing the legality and validity of the show cause notice dated 24.08.2023 issued by respondent no. 2-District Magistrate, Hapur in case no. 84 of 2023, under Section 3/4 U.P. Goondas Act, 1970 (in between State vs. Monu @ Khemchandra), P.S. Dhaulanad, District Hapur.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submitted that a show cause notice dated 24.08.2023 was issued to the petitioner showing one case Crime No. 122 of 2022, under Sections 147, 148, 188, 323, 427, 504 I.P.C., Police Station Dhaulana, District Hapur and two beet reports. Learned counsel for the petitioner has relied upon a judgment of this Court in the case of Govardhan Vs. State of U.P. and others passed in Criminal Misc. Writ Petition No. 12619 of 2023 decided on 10.08.2023 wherein the Court has expressed anguish and displeasure and proceedings of Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act, 1970 was quashed. Paragraphs 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the said judgment are quoted below:-
"13. In the impugned notice, there is a description of only one criminal case and one beat report against the petitioner while as per the definition and law settled by the Hon'ble Apex Court as well a by this Court "one" cannot be treated to be a 'habitual offender' unless and until there is a tendency of recurrence of the offence. In the instant case there is a solitary case to the credit of the petitioner, in which he has been granted anticipatory bail till the conclusion of trial, we find that this notice is nothing, but a sheer abuse of power vested in the executive authorities of the district.
14. In addition to above, there is mandatory requirement of the law, that if the executive authority is satisfied that the proceedings under Goonda Act spells out offences under clause (a), (b) and (c) of sub-Section 1 of the Act, he may issue notices to the particular "Goonda" informing him general nature of material allegations against him in clause (d) of the Act, his image among the masses, his nuisance value by which he is a potential threat to the peace and public order of the society at large.
15. But in the instant case, in the notice under challenge spells out the cases required against the petitioner which is allegedly issued on a "prescribed printed proforma" without application of mind by the executive authorities. Not only this, except enumeration of pending solitary case and a beat report, there is total lack of any judicial mind spelling out the general nature of material allegations against the petitioner, making entire impugned notice per se defective and cannot be acted upon any further.
16. We record our strong displeasure in such type of routine pasting of such provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act, 1970 and Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 in a most capricious and casual way.
17. At this juncture, learned A.G.A. stood up and informed the Court that in addition to the cases mentioned in the show cause notice, the petitioner is also involved in two-three more cases which do not find place in the show cause notice. This submissions advanced by the learned A.G.A. itself is amusing. This clearly indicates that one hand does not know what another hand is doing. All of a sudden learned A.G.A. woke up and revealed that in addition to two cases mentioned in impugned notices, the petitioner has got two more cases. The Court cannot take the judicial notice of those additional cases; we cannot permit this hide and seek practice with the proposed "Goonda" i.e. the petitioner."
Under these circumstances, relying upon the aforesaid judgment, we have no hesitation to quash the impugned notice. Accordingly, the impugned show cause notice dated 24.08.2023 issued by District Magistrate, Hapur is hereby quashed.
The writ petition is allowed. The show cause notice dated 24.08.2023 issued by the District Magistrate, Hapur in case no. 84 of 2023, under Section 3/4 U.P. Goondas Act, 1970, Police Station Dhaulana, District Hapur (Annexure-1) is hereby quashed.
Order Date :- 5.10.2023
Rmk.
