As per case facts Two individuals including a former Nagar Panchayat Chairman were charged under the stringent UP Gangsters Act based entirely on a single prior incident of communal violence ... This incident arising from a social media post was already the subject of two earlier FIRs where the appellants were arrested and released on bail The invocation of the UP Gangsters Act occurred six months after the initial incident coinciding closely with the political nomination of the appellant's daughter-in-law The High Court dismissed their petition to quash the FIR leading to the appeal The question arose whether the prosecution of the appellants under the UP Gangsters Act satisfied the statutory thresholds proving a gang or gangster based on a pattern of organized activity when based on a single spontaneous and already investigated incident of communal violence Finally the Supreme Court allowed the appeal ruling that the FIR and gang chart failed to meet the essential statutory and substantive thresholds The single incident of communal violence though serious did not establish a sustained pattern of organized criminal activity for undue advantage and the timing suggested a colourable exercise of power leading to the quashing of the impugned FIR

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