45 Years On, MP High Court Questions Relevance Of Chambal Bandit Law
The petition alleged that Sections 11 and 13 of the Act are being misused by the police by adding them even in cases involving personal enmity, minor land and property disputes or petty assaults.
Bhopal: Four and a half decades after a special law was made to deal with the dacoit menace in the Chambal Valley, the Madhya Pradesh high court has issued notices to the state government as well as the district police chiefs in the region seeking their reply as to why the Act should not be repealed.
The court notice comes in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by senior Congress leader and former home minister Govind Singh challenging the Madhya Pradesh Dacoity and Abduction- Affected Area Act, 1981, contending the even though the circumstances under which the law was enacted no longer exist, the Act still remains in force and has become a tool to harass the people by the police.
The petition alleged that Sections 11 and 13 of the Act are being misused by the police by adding them even in cases involving personal enmity, minor land and property disputes or petty assaults.
Imposing these stringent sections without a proper investigation prevents innocent citizens from even securing anticipatory bail, which violates the fundamental rights to equality and personal liberty guaranteed by the Constitution, Mr. Singh argued.
According to him, since 2020, more than 1,000 FIRs have been registered under the law in six districts of the Gwalior-Chambal region- Shivpuri, Datia, Gwalior, Bhind, Morena and Sheopur.
“When the state government and the Home department themselves have admitted on the floor of the Legislative Assembly that no listed dacoit gang is active in the state, retaining this 45-year-old law is completely irrelevant”, the petition contended.
Acting on the PIL, the Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court has issued notices to the principal secretary of the state home department, the Director General of Police (DGP), the Superintends of Police (SPs) of Gwalior, Shivpuri, Datia, Bhind, Morena and Sheopur districts, seeking their reply as to why the law should not be scrapped.
The ‘Madhya Pradesh Daikati Aur Apaharan Prabhavit Khetra Adhiniyam, 1981’, translated into English as Madhya Pradesh Dacoity and Abduction-Affected Area Act, 1981, is a special law enacted to combat organized and unorganized dacoity and kidnapping in designated regions.
The law empowers the state government to notify specific districts or areas as dacoity and kidnapping-affected, based on crime rates.
The law provides for constitution of special courts for the speedy trial of specified offenses and allows the authorities to attach and confiscate properties acquired through specified crimes, including assets held by relatives or associates.