The Gwalior bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court (HC) has served show-cause notices on the state’s Home Department, the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) and the Superintendents of Police (SPs) of the Chambal and Gwalior ranges, asking them why the Madhya Pradesh Dacoity and Kidnapping Affected Areas Act should not be struck down. 

The notices were issued after Madhya Pradesh’s former Home Minister and Congress leader Govind Singh filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), seeking a declaration that the legislation is unconstitutional and should be repealed. 

Court seeks details of pending cases

 A division bench of the HC, comprising Justice GS Ahluwalia and Justice Anuradha Shukla directed the state government to provide details of the cases pending under the act. The PIL has voiced questions over the continued invocation of legislation introduced specifically to tackle dacoity and kidnapping in areas once affected by crimes of such nature. 

As per leader Singh, Sections 11 and 13 of the Act, which provide for non-bailable offences, are allegedly being invoked even in cases involving ordinary property disputes, altercations and thefts. 

Singh said, “The law was enacted to deal with dacoits who no longer exist,” arguing that the continued use of the provisions could result in innocent people being denied anticipatory bail and could infringe upon their fundamental rights to equality and personal liberty. 

Law was rolled out to curb dacoity

The counsel appearing on behalf of Singh informed the HC that the legislation had been rolled out in October 1981 with the objective to curb dacoity and kidnapping in the forests of Gwalior, Chambal and Vindhya regions. 

Under the law, stringent punishments had been enforced and it provided for special courts to deal with offences covered under its provisions. Sharma also pointed to statements made by state leaders over the years regarding the elimination of dacoit gangs in MP. 

Back in 2017, the then-Home Minister Bhupendra Singh had informed the state Assembly that all dacoit gangs had been neutralised. In 2022, MP’s then-Chief Minister (CM) Shivraj Singh Chouhan declared the state free from dacoits. 

Sharma raised a question via the PIL; “When there are no dacoits, why are people still being booked under this Act?”

1k people booked under the act since 2020

Statistics from the Home Department were also cited in the petition, which revealed that more than 1,000 people were booked under the Act between 2020 and 2026 across six districts; Shivpuri, Datia, Bhind, Gwalior, Morena and Sheopur. Now, the court’s notices require the state authorities to explain the continued relevance and application of the legislation, as well as furnish details of cases pending under the act.