# SC declares UP Gangsters Act stillborn, quashes proceedings against advocates 2026-08-20T15:12:12+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet (2 source reports) The Supreme Court on Thursday declared the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, 'stillborn', holding that the legislation does not create any distinct criminal offence and cannot sustain prosecution merely on the basis of a person being labelled a 'gangster'. A bench of Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice K. Vinod Chandran observed that the Act, on the pretext of adjuring violence, is capable of perpetuating it against unsuspecting citizens. The Court quashed criminal proceedings under the Act against two advocates, Shiv Pratap Singh and Himanshu Srivastava, who were involved in a dispute regarding elections to a Bar Association. The Court applied the constitutional principle under Article 20(1), no crime or punishment without a penal law, to note that the UP Act is stillborn. It criticised the Act for enabling trial and punishment based on a gang chart without the commission of an actual offence. The Court clarified that it was not deciding the constitutional validity of the Act, those questions remain open. Separately, the Allahabad High Court quashed an FIR under the same Act for procedural violations, including failure to hold a mandatory joint meeting and incorrect entries showing an accused on bail as being in jail. Livelaw.in reports that the Allahabad High Court found the gang chart had been approved without application of mind and without the joint meeting required under Rule 5(3)(a) of the UP Gangsters Rules, 2021. The Court noted that the authorities failed to examine records and made false entries, vitiating the approval. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Livelaw.in's coverage is uniform straight reporting of two court orders. The Supreme Court judgment strikes at the core of the Act by ruling it creates no offence, while the High Court order highlights routine procedural violations. Together, they show the Act faces dual vulnerability: a structural legal defect and persistent non-compliance with its own rules. The state government may now have to either amend the Act to define distinct offences or face more quashments. Watch for a legislative response or a curative petition from the UP government. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral - livelaw.in (neutral report) Straight reporting of Supreme Court judgment with no editorial slant - livelaw.in (2) (neutral report) Straight reporting of Allahabad High Court order with no editorial slant This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-09-27T06:19:38+00:00. Tags: Allahabad High Court, Justice J.B. Pardiwala, Supreme Court, Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-calls-up-gangsters-act-stillborn/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-calls-up-gangsters-act-stillborn/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/