LUCKNOW, Sept. 12 -- Quashing an order of the Gonda district magistrate externing a Gonda resident from the district for six months in a criminal case in which he was acquitted nearly nine years ago, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court observed that the UP government has repeatedly misused the Uttar Pradesh Control of Goondas Act, 1970, as an instrument of oppression.

Justice Subhash Vidyarthi passed the judgment on September 10 on a petition filed by Zahid Ali, setting aside both the district magistrate's order dated May 11, 2026, and the divisional commissioner's appellate order of August 12, 2026, which upheld the DM's decision.

The court said the Goonda Act is a "very powerful" legislation and must be invoked with great ca...