The Allahabad High Court has quashed proceedings initiated under the Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act, 1970, holding that a person cannot be branded a ‘Goonda’ merely on the basis of one or two criminal cases. The Court observed that such action causes irreparable damage to the reputation of the person and their family.
The Court was dealing with proceedings initiated on the basis of two criminal cases registered in 2022 and 2025. The authorities had directed the person concerned to reside at his permanent address and mark his attendance at the concerned police station on every second and fourth Saturday for six months. The appellate authority subsequently upheld the order.
Relying on consistent precedents, the Court reiterated that the expression ‘habitually’ under the Goondas Act requires repeated, persistent and similar acts demonstrating continuity and a propensity to commit offences. One or two isolated criminal cases are insufficient to establish such habitual conduct.
The Court noted that there was a three-year gap between the two criminal cases, which, in the circumstances, did not establish habitual offending. It therefore held that the proceedings under the Act could not be sustained and quashed both the original and appellate orders.
The Court further observed that despite its consistent judicial position that one or two cases cannot, by themselves, justify branding a person as a ‘Goonda’, authorities continued to pass orders contrary to the settled law. Such action, it said, was contributing to increased court pendency and causing suffering to individuals.
In a strong observation, the Court stated that the U.P. Control of Goondas Act was being used as a ‘tool of oppression’ by the bureaucracy and the State, contrary to the object of the legislation.
The Court also cautioned bureaucrats against arbitrary exercise of powers under the Act, observing that although it had so far refrained from imposing damages on officials passing such orders, a strong message was now required.
Accordingly, the Court awarded ₹50,000 as damages for the suffering and agony caused by the declaration under the Goondas Act. It permitted the State to recover the amount from the salaries of the concerned bureaucrats and directed that the damages be paid within one month, failing which recovery proceedings could be initiated in accordance with law.
