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Synopsis

The Allahabad High Court recently allowed bail to Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, former Uttar Pradesh Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader in a Gangster Act case related to an illegal meat plant. 

The case was registered against Yaqoob last year under Section 2/3 U.P. Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act. 

Seeking bail in the matter, Yaqoob's counsel argued that Yaqoob had been falsely implicated in this case due to political enmity and he was neither running any gang nor he was a member of any gang. The counsel stressed that in the Gang Chart only one Case under Sections 417, 269, 270, 272, 273, 120-B of the IPC had been mentioned and in that case, he had already been granted bail by the high court. 

Referring to facts of the matter, the counsel submitted that Yaqoob is father of co-accused Imran Qureshi and Firoz, who are directors of M/s Al Faheem Meatex Pvt. Ltd, and that the said company is doing lawful business relating to slaughtering, packing, and storing of meat and that at the relevant time when the matter surfaced, the renewal of the license of the said company was already pending.

The applicant is neither director of the said company nor he was associated with day to day business of the said company. Merely because the wife and two sons of the applicant are directors of the said company, the applicant has been falsely implicated in this case, Yaqoob's counsel argued. 

Yaqoob, along with his elder son, was arrested on January 7, 2023, by the Special Task Force (STF) of the U.P. police in a case related to running an illegal meat plant. The police had also registered a case against them under the Gangsters Act.

Opposing Yaqoob's plea, Additional Advocate General, on behalf of the State Government, referred to his long criminal history and said that there is a terror in his name in his area and no one dares to make any complaint or depose against him.

AAG pointed out that in a murder case, Yaqoob secured acquittal on the ground that witnesses had turned hostile, and in other cases, he had obtained bail by concealing his criminal history.

However, the single judge bench of Justice Raj Beer Singh noted that in the first information report of the case, the main allegation was that the accused were indulging in illegal storage and business of meat for which a separate case had been registered in which Yaqoob had already been granted bail. 

"Except the above-referred incident of Crime No. 131/2022, no other incident has been mentioned to support the allegation that the applicant is a leader or member of the gang or that he has indulged in commission of offences prescribed under section 2(b) of Gangster Act," noted the bench. 

Therefore, keeping in view "provisions of section 19(4) of Gangster Act vis-a-vis the principle underlying the theory of criminal jurisprudence that an accused is presumed to be innocent till he is held guilty by a court of the competent jurisdiction" and considering submissions made by the parties, without expressing any opinion on the merits of the case, court opined that a case for bail was made out. 

Case Title: Yaqoob Qureshi v. State of UP