India, Sept. 19 -- The Allahabad High Court has pulled up the Bahraich Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate for approving a gang chart under the Gangsters Act without "due application of mind" or "maintaining fairness".

A Lucknow bench of Justice Manish Mathur also observed that it was unfortunate that senior officers appeared unaware of repeated judgements of constitutional courts emphasising the need to exercise discretion and maintain fairness while initiating action under the Gangsters Act.

The court made the observations while hearing a petition filed by Babbu Shah challenging proceedings initiated against him under the Gangsters Act at Payagpur police station in Bahraich.

The court found that neither the SP nor the DM...