In Brief
Appellants, accused under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act based on three predicate criminal cases involving property disputes, appealed the High Court's dismissal of their writ petition for FIR quashing. The Supreme Court held that penal statutes must be strictly construed. Since the predicate offences arose primarily from civil property and monetary transactions, trials were pending and inconclusive, no evidence showed appellants acted on alleged threats post-registration, and alternative civil remedies were available, resort to the anti-gangster statute was premature. The Court quashed the FIR, setting aside the High Court's judgment, reaffirming that rights to life and liberty cannot be compromised by mere criminal case registration.
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