Allahabad HC raps U.P. police, says officers serve political bosses over the Constitution

Questioning the functioning of the Uttar Pradesh police, the Allahabad High Court recently observed that the loyalties of the State’s police officers often appear to be aligned with the ruling dispensation rather than the Constitution.

The remarks came from the Bench of Justice Vinod Diwakar which was hearing a case pertaining to the Gangsters Act case against Ghaziabad resident Rajendra Tyagi and his family on Wednesday (June 3, 2026). While quashing the case, the court found that the allegations arose from land and financial disputes and did not meet the legal requirements for invoking the stringent law.

The court expressed serious concern about the arrest of Lalita Tyagi, a homemaker, who spent nearly 80 days in jail. It termed her arrest “patently illegal, arbitrary and wholly unwarranted”, adding that there was no material to justify either her arrest or inclusion in the Gangsters Act case.

Misuse of Gangsters Act

During the proceedings, the court repeatedly sought explanations from the Uttar Pradesh Home Department and senior police officers over the alleged misuse of the Gangsters Act. Unsatisfied with their responses, it demanded data on convictions, acquittals, accountability mechanisms, and disciplinary action taken against errant officers.

Reprimanding the police, the court noted that a deeply entrenched culture has taken root in which the rule of law is treated less as a Constitutional mandate and more as an administrative obstacle. It added that arrests are made without due process, FIRs are manipulated to serve extraneous ends, and preventive detention laws are invoked arbitrarily. Procedural safeguards under criminal law are routinely ignored, while judicial orders are observed in form and subverted in substance.

Dubious loyalties

“The vertical loyalty of officers runs not toward the Constitution but toward the ruling dispensation. Field officers, acutely conscious of the transfer-posting economy, calibrate their conduct to satisfy political superiors. Encounter killings, selective crackdowns, and targeted use of the Gangsters Act against inconvenient individuals have periodically attracted judicial notice. The High Court has, on numerous occasions, deprecated this tendency and reminded officers that their posts are constitutional in character and must not be reduced to instruments of individual convenience,” the court said.

It further recorded a prima facie finding that former Ghaziabad Police Commissioner Ajay Kumar Mishra appeared to have misused his authority while approving the Gangsters Act proceedings. Though it stopped short of punitive action, it cautioned him to exercise greater restraint and adherence to law.