Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government’s attempts to project a tough guy image of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by threatening to invoke the National Security Act (NSA) and Gangster Act against people hoarding oxygen cylinders and Covid-19 medicines, “spreading rumours” and “trying to spoil the atmosphere”, has revived the conversation on the fate of similar actions it had initiated against anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) activists.
By ordering the protesters to pay damages, or face the seizure of their property, for allegedly engaging in acts of vandalism, the government now finds itself mired in legal wrangles. Even the much-publicised sealing of the property of underworld dons, bootleggers and unscrupulous builders under the Gangster Act is hanging in the balance in courts in a number of cases.
Section 14(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, states: “If the district magistrate has reason to believe that any property, whether movable or immovable, in possession of any person, has been acquired by a gangster as a result of the commission of an offence triable under this Act, he may order attachment of such property whether or not cognizance of such offence has been taken by any court.”
The way the clause is worded, according to legal experts, leaves actions taken under this section open to challenge, as in the case of Jaikant Bajpai, alleged financier of the slain gangster Vikas Dubey. Kanpur-based Bajpai and his three brothers — Rajnikant, Ajaikant and Shobhit — were booked under the Gangster Act. The police attached five houses, three flats and two plots in September last year, but, according to a relative of the Bajpais, who spoke to ThePrint, the matter is in court. The seized property therefore is yet to be auctioned.
As reported by ThePrint, the UP home department has claimed that the government has seized and demolished property worth Rs 1,000 crore, allegedly illegally acquired by gangsters in the state, over the past four years. The property included those of high-profile mafiosi such as Mukhtar Ansari, Sunder Bhati, Atiq Ahmed, Bablu Srivastava and Khan Mubarak, and the combined worth of the seizures is Rs 587 crore.
Logically, therefore, it may seem that the state government is on a good wicket as it goes about booking Covid profiteers. But it seems to be re-calibrating its strategy.
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Minister, officials hedge their bet on property seizures
The UP Police announced a few days ago that it had arrested 62 profiteers over the past 10 days in pursuance of the state cabinet’s decision. Sidharth Nath Singh, UP cabinet minister and spokesperson for the government, however, was circumspect on the subject of property seizures. He said the government had to be very strict with those who were “spreading rumours on the social media” or profiteering from medical oxygen, but he pointed out: “A property seizure is a long process. We did it earlier under the Gangster Act. There is a provision in it. I can’t speak more on it. Everything will happen according to the law.”
A police officer contacted by ThePrint also hedged his views on property seizures. “We have invoked the NSA and Gangster Act in many of the recent cases, but not all,” he said. “A property seizure is a long process. We will take a decision case by case.” A state government official added: “We can seize property only after issuing a recovery notice after the charge sheet is filed. Some get a stay order from the court, but many don’t.”
Legal experts are not convinced, especially in the context of the recent move of the state government. Dharmendra Singh, a lawyer based out of Lucknow, said: “The Supreme Court order on the social media should be followed by all the states. The police cannot just book anyone under the NSA or Gangster Act on the grounds that they are critical of the government on social media. If anyone spreads a rumour, the police can book the person under the IT Act or other related laws, but definitely not the Gangster Act. Otherwise, the action will be deemed illegal.”
The UP Police DGP’s spokesperson, Abhay Nath Tripathi, however, assured ThePrint: “We will follow the directions of the Supreme Court. We are not taking action against those who are asking for help on social media. The UP Police, in fact, is helping them, but we are taking action against black marketeers.”
UP’s ADG Law & Order Prashant Kumar added: “What action we take, it will be according to the rules. Our priority at present is to stop black marketing and people spreading rumours on social media.” He said the sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that would be enforced against such people will be in accordance with the law.
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Cases against anti-CAA protesters wobble in courts
In the wake of the anti-CAA protests, the police registered 510 ‘recovery’ cases against 7,304 people, but filed a charge sheet in 312 and the final report in just 39. The recoveries added up to a small percentage of the damages the state government had sought — Rs 23.36 lakh recovered from demands adding up to Rs 1.73 crore.
The two tribunals set up by the state government in August 2020 to fast-track the recovery of damages from anti-CAA protesters also have not taken any noteworthy action.
The higher judiciary, though, has been coming to the defence of the protesters with amazing alacrity. It started from the time when both the Allahabad High Court and Supreme Court struck down the Lucknow administration’s move to ‘name and shame’ the anti-CAA protesters against whom recovery notices had been sent, by outing them in public hoardings.
On 3 December 2020, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court stayed all proceedings and “coercive actions” initiated by the state government against Syed Saif Abbas Naqvi, who was slapped a recovery notice, with the threat of property seizure attached to it, for allegedly committing acts of vandalism during the anti-CAA protests.
Naqvi had moved court to quash the Lucknow administration’s order of 3 March 2020, holding him and his associates jointly as well as individually responsible and liable for damages amounting to Rs 67 lakh.
One of the petitioners in this case was a former IPS officer and Dalit activist, S.R. Darapuri, who got a Rs 64 lakh recovery notice from the Lucknow administration. Commenting on it, he said: “They have not been able to seize my property because the notice was illegal. And now they are threatening to invoke the Gangster Act against so-called rumours being circulated on social media. This too is illegal.”
Sadaf Jafar, a Lucknow-based Congress leader, also got a recovery notice for damaging public property, but she moved court at once and the hearing is yet to be scheduled. “Nothing happened in that case,” Jafar added.
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State govt exposes itself up to a flurry of legal challenges
Legal experts are convinced that if the Yogi government invokes the Gangster Act against “rumour mongers”, it will open itself to challenge in the courts.
In the words of Ashma Izzat, a lawyer based out of Lucknow: “They can put people black marketing oxygen or medicines behind bars under the Gangster Act by proving that the accused are acting through gangs, but even this can be challenged in court. And those people who are circulating fake news can be booked under the IT Act or the relevant sections of the IPC sections, but how can the NSA or Gangster Act be invoked?”
Sources in the Chief Minister’s Office said the idea behind the government’s declaration was to “create a fear” in the minds of criminals and to project Yogi Adityanath as a “strict CM’.” They went on to add: “If someone gets a stay from a court, who cares? What people see is that we took strict action.”
Pawan Pandey, a Samajwadi Party leader and former minister, however, did not pull his punches. “The Yogi government only wants to create panic and fear so that no one speaks up against its failures. All this talk about seizing property is only a dhamki (threat). The truth is, these orders are illegal, so people get stay orders. This is just propaganda,” he told ThePrint.
The former Congress MP Pramod Tiwari added, “There is a statewide shortage of oxygen, beds and ambulances, but the CM can only talk about seizing property. Even after he made his threat public, 30 districts reported a shortage of oxygen. He has no idea about what the ground reality is.”
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