PRAYAGRAJ, June 25 -- Taking a serious note of misuse of the Gangsters Act in Muzaffarnagar, the Allahabad high court has directed the DM and the SSP of Muzaffarnagar and the concerned station house officer (SHO) to personally appear before it to explain their 'misconduct and negligence'.

Justice Arun Kumar Singh Deshwal passed these directives on June 20 while taking strong exception to the repeated and arbitrary invocation of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 1986, against a man, allegedly to keep him in jail.

With this, the court also granted bail to the accused Manshad alias Sona of Muzaffarnagar district in connection with a case registered under Section 2/3 of the Gangsters Act. It was submit...