UP Gangsters Act | 'Thinks Small Of Law': Allahabad HC Seeks DM's Explanation For Skipping Mandatory Joint Meeting

The Allahabad High Court recently slammed Mirzapur District Magistrate Pawan Kumar Gangwar for skipping a mandatory joint meeting required to approve a gang chart under the UP Gangsters Rules, 2021.

Taking serious note of his absence, a bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Tarun Saxena remarked that, prima facie, the officer "thinks small of the law and does not at all care about it, as often happens with educated laymen." The Court has now called for his personal explanation over the issue.

"He seems to consider the law an unnecessary pestersome burden. Let him explain his absence from the joint meeting, where the gang chart was approved in this case, leading to loss of public time and money and the launching of a prosecution, the result of which is almost foregone," the bench observed in its order.

For context, under Rule 5(3)(a) of the 2021 Rules, a joint meeting between the District Magistrate and the District Superintendent of Police is mandatory to approve a gang chart. This joint meeting is a strict prerequisite before an FIR can be registered under Section 3(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986.

However, in the present case, the DM separately approved the proposed gang chart against the accused/petitioner on September 16, 2025. With him, only the local Inspector was present.

In its order, the bench noted that the record of the case revealed that the gang chart was initially proposed on August 8, where only the following three officers were present:

Mirzapur Senior Superintendent of Police Somen Verma,

Nodal Officer (Gang Chart) Om Prakash Singh, and

Joint Director of Prosecution Gajraj Mishra.

The DM was admittedly absent from this meeting.

Taking a serious note of this, the bench stated that the DM owed an explanation to the Court as to what made him think that "a joint meeting under Rule 5(3)(a) could be held in his absence".

The Court added that his actions were contrary to the law laid down by a division bench of the High Court in the case of Sanni Mishra @ Sanjayan Kumar Mishra vs State Of U.P. And 2 Others, which was subsequently affirmed by the Supreme Court in the 2025 case of Rajendra Bihari Lal vs State of U.P. & Ors [2025 LiveLaw (SC) 1021].

Hence, posting the matter for April 30, 2026, the Court granted interim relief by staying the arrest of the petitioner (Bhagmani Devi) in the Gangsters Act case.