Allahabad High Court
Satyendra Kumar Singh And Another vs State Of U.P. on 3 May, 2023
HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD ?Court No. - 64 Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 14821 of 2023 Applicant :- Satyendra Kumar Singh And Another Opposite Party :- State of U.P. Counsel for Applicant :- Vikas Chauhan Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble J.J. Munir,J.
Heard Mr. Vikas Chauhan, learned Counsel for the applicants and Mr. Shashi Shekhari Tiwari, learned A.G.A. appearing on behalf of the State.
This application under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 ('the Code' for short) seeking to quash the entire proceedings of Case No. 1018 of 2022, State v. Akshay Kumar and others (arising out of Case Crime No. 40 of 2021), under Section 3(1) of the U.P. Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986 ('the Act of 1986' for short), Police Station Dubaulia, District Basti.
The allegation against the applicants appears to be that they are members of a gang, of which co-accused Akshay Kumar is the leader. The gang is involved in the activity of securing One Time Password ('OTP' for short) numbers, making bank accounts of bank customers accessible through customer care services of mobile contacts and after securing those OTPs, bank accounts of bank customers are hacked and money transferred to accounts of the gang members. A first information report against the applicants Satyendra Kumar Singh, Neelkamal and co-accused Akshay Kumar, giving rise to Case Crime No. 218 of 2020, under Sections 420 and 468 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC' for short) and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, 2000, Police Station Dubaulia, District Basti was registered, wherein the applicants have been enlarged on bail by this Court. It is submitted that the applicant is a teacher in a government school, and there is no basis to proceed against him. During investigation, material has been collected, showing certain transactions between the applicant and the gang leader Akshay Kumar, about which learned Counsel for the applicants says that the applicant has refunded a sum of Rs. 30,000/-.
Learned A.G.A. has opposed the motion to admit this application to hearing.
Organized crime is a very serious matter and a gang has been defined under Section 2(b) of the Act of 1986 as under :
(b) "Gang" means a group of persons, who acting either singly or collectively, by violence, or threat or show of violence, or intimidation, or coercion or otherwise with the object of disturbing public order or of gaining any undue temporal, pecuniary, material or other advantage for himself or any other person, indulge in anti-social activities, namely-
(i) offences punishable under Chapter XVI or Chapter XVII or Chapter XXII of the Indian Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1860), or
(ii) distilling or manufacturing or .storing or transporting or importing or exporting or selling or distributing any liquor, or intoxicating or dangerous drugs, or other intoxicants or narcotics or cultivating any plant, in contravention of any of the provisions of the U.P. Excise Act, 1910 (U.P. Act No. 4 of 1910), or the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (Act No. 61 of 1985), or any other law for the time being in force, or
(iii) occupying or taking possession of immovable property otherwise than in accordance with law, or setting-up false claims for title or possession of immovable property whether in himself or any other person, or
(iv) preventing or attempting to prevent any public servant or any witness from discharging his lawful duties, or
(v) offences punishable under the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 (Act No. 104 of 1956), or
(vi) offences punishable under Section 3 of the Public Gambling Act, 1867 (Act No. 3 of 1867), or
(vii) preventing any person from offering bids in auction lawfully conducted, or tender, lawfully invited, by or on behalf of any Government department, local body or public or private undertaking, for any lease or rights or supply of goods or work to be done, or
(viii) preventing or disturbing the smooth running by any person of his lawful business, profession, trade or employment or any other lawful activity connected therewith, or
(ix) offences punishable under Section 171-E of the Indian Penal Code (Act No. 45 of 1860), or in preventing or obstructing any public election being lawfully held, by physically preventing the voter from exercising his electoral rights, or
(x) inciting others to resort to violence to disturb communal harmony, or
(xi) creating panic, alarm or terror in public, or
(xii) terrorising or assaulting employees or owners or occupiers of public or private undertakings or factories and causing mischief in respect of their properties, or
(xiii) inducing or attempting to induce any person to go to foreign countries on false representation that any employment, trade or profession shall be provided to him in such foreign country, or
(xiv) kidnapping or abducting any person with intent to extort ransom, or
(xv) diverting or otherwise preventing any aircraft or public transport vehicle from following its scheduled course;
(xvi) offences punishable under the Regulation of Money Lending Act, 1976;
(xvii) illegally transporting and/or smuggling of cattle and indulging in acts in contravention of the provisions in the Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1955 and the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960;
(xviii) human trafficking for purposes of commercial exploitation, bonded labour, child labour, sexual exploitation, organ removing and trafficking, beggary and the like activities.
(xix) offences punishable under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1966:
(xx) printing, transporting and circulating of fake Indian currency notes;
(xxi) involving in production, sale and distribution of spurious drugs;
(xxii) involving in manufacture, sale and transportation of arms and ammunition in contravention of Sections 5, 7 and 12 of the Arms Act, 1959; (xxiii) felling or killing for economic gains, smuggling of products in contravention of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972; (xxiv) offences punishable under the Entertainment and Betting Tax Act, 1979;
(xvv) indulging in crimes that impact security of State, public order and even tempo of life.
Section 2(c) of the Act of 1986 reads as follows :
(c) "gangster" means a member or leader or organiser of a gang and includes any person who abets or assists in the activities of a gang enumerated in clause (b), whether before or after the commission of such activities or harbours any person who has indulged in such activities;
During investigation, there is material collected that the applicants are members of the gang, where the gang chart has been approved by the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police, Basti after the other proposing authorities have signed it. Securing temporary or pecuniary material or other advantage for himself by a person is postulated under sub-Section (b) of Section 2 of the Act of 1986 as an essential feature of a gang, provided the gang is involved in any of the anti-social activities mentioned under sub-clauses (i) to (xxv). The offence of hacking accounts of bank customers is one of the offences punishable under Sections 420, 467, 468 IPC, all of which fall under Chapter XXVII of the Indian Penal Code, which is one of the anti-social activity contemplated in Clause (i) of sub-Section (b) of Section 2 of the Act of 1986.
The disputed defence of the applicants that they have not been involved in the activity cannot be examined in these proceedings under Section 482 of the Code. The applicants have to stand trial, where, of course, the prosecution would have to establish their case against them.
In the opinion of this Court, it is not a fit case for interference under Section 482 of the Code to quash proceedings.
In the result, this application fails and stands rejected.
Order Date :- 3.5.2023 I. Batabyal