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Punjab-Haryana High Court
Pritpal Kaur vs State Of Punjab And Ors on 16 March, 2021CRM-M No. 14954 of 2020 (O&M) -1-
In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh
CRM-M No. 14954 of 2020 (O&M)
Date of Decision: 16.3.2021
Pritpal Kaur ……Petitioner
Versus
State of Punjab and another ……Respondents
CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE HARNARESH SINGH GILL
Present: Mr. Rajesh Bhatheja, Advocate
for the petitioner.
Mr. Randhir Singh Thind, AAG, Punjab.
Ms. Shubhra Singh, Advocate and
Mr. Puru Gupta, Advocate
for respondent No. 6-CBI.
Mr. A.S.Brar, Advocate
for respondent No. 7.
****
HARNARESH SINGH GILL, J. (ORAL)
Case is taken up for hearing through video conferencing.
Prayer in this petition is for issuance of directions to
respondents No. 1 and 2 to hand over the investigation of FIR No. 69 dated
2.6.2020 under Section 376 IPC, registered at Police Station Nihal Singh
Wala, District Moga (Annexure P-3) to the Central Bureau of Investigation
or to some other independent agency.
It is stated that the petitioner is working as a Nurse (ANM) in a
dispensary at village Himmatpura, Tehsil Nihal Singh Wala, District Moga
and accused Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7, who is an active member of the
local wing of the ruling party, used to visit the said dispensary and started
outraging the modesty of the petitioner. In the second week of December
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2019, accused Varun Joshi approached the petitioner in her office and
threatened her that he was having her nude videos with some different male
persons in a compromising position and would upload the same on internet
if she did not develop physical relations with him or to pay Rs. 5,00,000/-
to him. The petitioner narrated the incident to her mother, who told the
petitioner that in order to save her respect and dignity in the society, they
would compromise with accused Varun Joshi. It is further stated that on
11.12.2019 and 12.12.2019, Jatinder Kaur, mother of the petitioner, paid Rs.
4.00 lacs to Varun Joshi at his residence in the presence of Balwinder Singh,
whereupon Varun Joshi had assured to delete all objectionable videos from
his mobile phone. On 25.4.2020, Varun Joshi again visited the office of the
petitioner and told her that he had deleted only a few clips and there were
some more video clips and if the said video clips were to be deleted, then
the petitioner had to pay Rs. 3.00 lacs more to him. When the petitioner
showed her inability to pay Rs. 3.00 lacs more, Varun Joshi-respondent
No. 7 took her in an Innova car to an isolated place and after removing her
clothes, had committed rape upon her against her wishes. The petitioner
reported the matter to the police and when no action was taken, she
appeared before Senior Superintendent of Police, Moga-respondent No. 3
on 22.5.2020 and got recorded her statement but instead of registering an
FIR, respondent No. 3 constituted a committee of two members i.e. Deputy
Superintendent of Police, Crime Against Women, Moga (respondent No. 4)
and a Lady Inspector to enquire into the matter. It is further averred that
Deputy Superintendent of Police-respondent No. 4 threatened the petitioner
to settle the matter with Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7 as he happens to be
the man of means and belonging to the ruling party.
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The petitioner had approached Judicial Magistrate Ist Class,
Moga and moved an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C. for issuing
directions to SHO, Police Station Nihal Singh Wala, for registration of an
FIR against Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7. Vide order dated 1.6.2020, the
said application was allowed and SHO, Nihal Singh Wala was directed to
investigate the matter after registration of FIR. Thus, FIR No. 69 dated
2.6.2020 under Section 376 IPC was registered.
It is further the case of the petitioner that after registration of
the FIR, Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7 being an influential person, was not
arrested. The petitioner was neither medically examined nor her statement
under Section 164 Cr.P.C. was got recorded and instead, an enquiry was
initiated on the application of Ashok Kumar, father of Varun Joshi and the
petitioner had been pressurized to settle the matter.
Vide order dated 15.6.2020, a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court
had issued a direction to record the statement of the petitioner under Section
164 Cr.P.C. before the Duty Magistrate concerned.
On 06.10.2020, a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court issued a
direction to the Director General of Police, Punjab-respondent no. 2 to
constitute a committee to be headed by Deputy Inspector General of Police
and to submit the report. In compliance of the said order, status report by
way of affidavit of Inspector General of Police, Faridkot Range, Faridkot
dated 18.12.2020, was filed which was taken on record on 16.2.2021.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that accused Varun
Joshi is an influential person and in order to delete the alleged video clips,
had received Rs. 4.00 lacs from the mother of the petitioner and thereafter
committed rape upon the petitioner without her consent. The petitioner had
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approached the authorities for registration of the FIR and later, Judicial
Magistrate Ist Class, Moga on the application of the petitioner, had directed
the SHO to investigate the matter after registration of the FIR. He further
submits that even after registration of the FIR in question, Varun Joshi-
respondent No. 7 was not arrested and instead an enquiry was initiated on
the application of the father of Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7.
Learned counsel for the petitioner further states that the status
report filed by Inspector General of Police, Faridkot Range, Faridkot dated
18.12.2020 does not depict a clear picture, and rather the same has been
prepared under the influence of Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7, who happens
to be an active political worker of the ruling party. He further submits that
the said report has been prepared with a bias mind ignoring the fact that the
petitioner has been raped and there are specific allegations against Varun
Joshi-respondent No. 7 and moreover the FIR in question has been
registered on the directions issued by Judicial Magistrate Ist Class Moga
vide order dated 01.6.2020. Learned counsel further submits that the police
officials are helping Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7 and the acts of the
investigating agency clearly show that all out efforts are being made to
shelter the guilty person.
Per contra, learned State counsel submits that in compliance of
the order dated 06.10.2020, the Director General of Police, Punjab
constituted a Special Investigation Team consisting Dr. Kaustubh Sharma,
IPS, Inspector General of Police, Faridkot Range, Faridkot, Swarandeep
Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Faridkot and Rupinder Kaur Bhatti,
PPS, Superintendent of Police, Counter Intelligence, Ludhiana to
investigate the present case. Petitioner Pritpal Kaur joined the investigation
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and on her stance, the place of occurrence was visited by a lady member of
the SIT. He further submits that on 20.10.2020, a parcel of clothes worn by
the petitioner at the time of occurrence, was sent to the Forensic Science
Laboratory and the report was received on 07.11.2020.
It is further submitted that during investigation, it was found
that the petitioner and Varun Joshi-respondent No. 7 had friendly relations
and on coming to know about this, a dispute arose between the petitioner
and her husband Pardeep Singh and on 28.4.2020. A written complaint was
given by the petitioner to the Gram Panchayat of village Bilaspur regarding
getting divorce from her husband Pardeep Singh and living separately from
her husband, daughter and her in-laws’ family.
It is still further submitted by the learned State counsel that the
recommendation of the Special Investigation Team for presentation of
supplementary challan by way of cancellation report, is on the basis of a
thorough investigation and the final report by the SIT dated 10.12.2020,
which is placed on record as Annexure R-1/T.
Learned State counsel further submits that a litigant who
attempts to pollute the stream of justice or touches the pure fountain of
justice with tainted hands, is not entitled to any relief. He further submits
that the present petition is an abuse of process of law and an exemplary
costs should be imposed upon the petitioner, for such a frivolous litigation.
In support of his arguments, he has placed reliance upon Phool Chandra
and another versus State of U.P. 2014(3) R.C.R. (Criminal) 30, Maria
Margarida Sequeria Fernandes and others versus Erasmo Jack de
Sequeria (dead) through LRs and others 2012(5) SCC 370 and Kishore
Samrite versus State of U.P. and others 2012 (4) R.C.R. (Criminal) 775.
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I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner as well as the
learned State counsel and the learned counsel for respondent No. 7.
Petitioner-Pritpal Kaur has approached this Court to hand over
the investigation of FIR No. 69 dated 2.6.2020 to some independent agency
and for issuance of directions to arrest accused/respondent No. 7-Varun
Joshi. As per the version of the petitioner, on 11/12.12.2019, Rs. 4.00 lacs
had been paid by the mother of the petitioner to respondent No. 7 to delete
all the nude videos, showing the petitioner in a compromising condition and
the said amount was paid to save her respect and dignity in the society.
Since some videos were deleted, respondent No. 7 again met the petitioner
in her office on 25.4.2020 and demanded Rs. 3.00 lacs more to delete the
remaining nude videos and when the petitioner showed her inability to pay
more money, respondent No. 7 took her to an isolated place in his car and
had committed rape upon her against her wishes. It is also alleged that
respondent No. 7 is having strong links with the ruling party and that is the
reason the local administration is not taking any action against him and he is
roaming freely.
On the stand taken by the petitioner, this Court had directed the
Director General of Police, Punjab to constitute an SIT. In the report of the
SIT and the status report of Inspector General of Police, it has been
concluded that a fake FIR was got registered by the petitioner against
respondent No. 7 and has further recommended for presentation of
supplementary challan/cancellation report. The allegations raised by the
petitioner in the FIR are not proved as the call location of the petitioner and
respondent No. 7 show different places as from the one where the alleged
rape was committed. The investigation regarding the stay of the petitioner
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and respondent No. 7 in Hotel Sneh Mohan, at Jagraon was conducted and
the statement of the Manager was also recorded and a conclusion was drawn
that the petitioner and respondent No. 7 had stayed there on different dates
on friendly basis.
The SIT has also drawn a conclusion that there was a friendly
relationship between the petitioner and respondent No. 7 and the dispute
between them arose only when the petitioner made a written complaint to
the Gram Panchayat of village Bilaspur against her husband, daughter and
her in-laws’ family and showed her desire to stay away from them.
It is clear that the petitioner has levelled false and frivolous
allegations against respondent No. 7 and has gone to the extent of lodging
the FIR in question and recording the statement before the Magistrate on
19.6.2020. The petitioner has not approached this Court with clean hands.
In Maria Margarida Sequeria Fernandes’s case (supra), the
Apex Court has held as under:-
84. False claims and defences are really serious problems
with real estate litigation, predominantly because of ever
escalating prices of the real estate. Litigation pertaining to
valuable real estate properties is dragged on by unscrupulous
litigants in the hope that the other party will tire out and
ultimately would settle with them by paying a huge amount.
This happens because of the enormous delay in adjudication of
cases in our Courts. If pragmatic approach is adopted, then
this problem can be minimized to a large extent.
85. This Court in a recent judgment in Ramrameshwari Devi
and Others (supra) aptly observed at page 266 that unless
wrongdoers are denied profit from frivolous litigation, it would
be difficult to prevent it. In order to curb uncalled for and
frivolous litigation, the Courts have to ensure that there is no
incentive or motive for uncalled for litigation. It is a matter of
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common experience that Court’s otherwise scarce time is
consumed or more appropriately, wasted in a large number of
uncalled for cases. In this very judgment, the Court provided
that this problem can be solved or at least be minimized if
exemplary cost is imposed for instituting frivolous litigation.
The Court observed at pages 267-268 that imposition of
actual, realistic or proper costs and/or ordering prosecution in
appropriate cases would go a long way in controlling the
tendency of introducing false pleadings and forged and
fabricated documents by the litigants. Imposition of heavy
costs would also control unnecessary adjournments by the
parties. In appropriate cases, the Courts may consider
ordering prosecution otherwise it may not be possible to
maintain purity and sanctity of judicial proceedings.
The Apex Court in Phool Chandra’s case (supra) has held as
under:-
“In Mathai @ Joby v. George & Anr., (2010) 2 RCR (Civil)
495 : (2010) 4 SCC, this Court while dealing with a similar
case observed that now-a-days it has become a practice of
filing SLPs against all kinds of orders of the High Court or
other authorities without realising the scope of Article 136.
Hence, the court felt it incumbent on it to reiterate that Article
136 was never meant to be an ordinary forum of appeal at all
like Section 96 or even Section 100 of the Code of Civil
Procedure, 1908. Under the constitutional scheme, ordinarily
the last court in the country in ordinary cases was meant to be
the High Court. The Supreme Court as the Apex Court in the
country was meant to deal with important issues like
constitutional questions, questions of law of general
importance or where grave injustice has been done to a party.
If the Supreme Court entertains all and sundry kinds of cases it
will soon be flooded with a huge amount of backlog and will
not be able to deal with important questions relating to the
Constitution or the law or where grave injustice has been
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done, for which it was really meant under the Constitutional
Scheme. After all, the Supreme Court has limited time at its
disposal and it cannot be expected to hear every kind of
dispute. The court expressed its sympathy with the judges as
they struggle with an unbearable burden. The judges spend
late nights trying to read briefs for a Monday or a Friday.
When each of the 13 Benches have to dispose off about 60
cases in a day, the functioning of the Supreme Court of India is
a far cry from what should be desiderate for disposal of cases
in a calm and detached atmosphere.
All these are aberrations in the functioning of the Apex
Court of any country. Of-lately, there has been an increase in
the trend of litigants rushing to the courts, including this court,
for all kinds of trivial and silly matters which results in
wastage of public money and time. A closer scrutiny of all such
matters would disclose that there was not even a remote
justification for filing the case. It is a pity that the time of the
Court which is becoming acutely precious because of the
piling arrears has to be wasted on hearing such matters. There
is an urgent need to put a check on such frivolous litigation.
Perhaps many such cases can be avoided if learned counsel
who are officers of the court and who are expected to assist the
court tender proper advice to their clients. The Bar has to
realise that the great burden upon the Bench of dispensing
justice imposes a simultaneous duty upon them to share this
burden and it is their duty to see that the burden should not
needlessly be made unbearable. The Judges of this Nation are
struggling bravely against the odds to tackle the problem of
dispensing quick justice. But, without the cooperation of the
gentlemen of the Bar, nothing can be done.
12. It is high time that the Courts should come down heavily
upon such frivolous litigation and unless we ensure that the
wrongdoers are denied profit or undue benefit from the
frivolous litigation, it would be difficult to control frivolous
and uncalled for litigation. In order to curb such kind of
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litigation, the courts have to ensure that there is no incentive
or motive which can be ensured by imposing exemplary costs
upon the parties. (Vide: Varinderpal Singh v. Hon’ble Justice
M.R. Sharma & Ors., 1986 Supp SCC 719; Ramrameshwari
Devi & Ors. v. Nirmala Devi & Ors., 2011(3) RCR (Civil) 932
: 2011 (4) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J) 390: (2011) 8 SCC ;
and Gurgaon Gramin Bank v. Khazani & Anr., 2012 (4) RCR
(Civil) 326 : 2012 (4) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 391 :
AIR 2012 SC 2881).
As noticed above, the proceedings initiated by the petitioner are
false and frivolous. From the facts and circumstances delineated above, it is
clearly established that an attempt has been made to not only abuse the
process of law but also overawe the authorities. Hence, keeping in view the
law laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court, it is a fit case, where an
exemplary costs should be imposed upon the petitioner.
In view of the above, the present petition is dismissed with
costs of Rs. 1.00 lac, to be paid and deposited by the petitioner with the
Institute for the Blind, Sector-26, Chandigarh.
The trial Court shall proceed further with the case pending
before it, in accordance with law.
(HARNARESH SINGH GILL)
JUDGE
March 16, 2021
Gurpreet
Whether speaking/reasoned : Yes/No
Whether reportable : Yes/No
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