Smt. Parminder Kaur vs State Of U.P. & Anr

2 unfair and dishonest therefore, on 29.07.1975 he revoked the Power of Attorney given to respondent No. 2. In spite of the revocation of Power of Attorney, respondent No. 2 transferred the land of the husband of the petitioner by registered sale deed in favour of his relatives on 07th January, 1996 and 10th January, 1996 respectively. On the basis of those sale deeds, names of the relatives of respondent No. 2 were recorded in the Revenue records by obtaining mutation orders dated 07th March, 1996 recorded by the Tehsildar, Bilaspur in Mutation Record Nos. 228-B of 1996 and 229-B of 1996. According to the petitioner, the mutation orders were obtained fraudulently and at the back of the petitioner's husband by respondent No. 2. Smt. Amrinder Kaur, daughter of the petitioner, also revoked her Power of Attorney and asked respondent No. 2 not to deal with her land any more in any manner. But irrespective of the revocation of the said Power of Attorney, respondent No. 2 transferred her land in the name of his daughter Namrata Chandi and other near relatives by registered sale deed dated 03rd July, 1991 and obtained mutation order dated 30th August, 1991 of the Tehsildar, Bilaspur, recorded in Mutation Case No. 8-M of 1991. The husband of the petitioner then appointed the petitioner as his Attorney by executing Power of Attorney dated 25th September, 1997 in her favour authorizing her to deal with his land at village Behait. Similarly, Smt. Amrinder Kaur appointed the petitioner as her Power of Attorney executed on 4th February, 2000 with regard to her land.

The petitioner alleges in these proceedings that after instituting the three civil suits in the trial court, she and her husband received serious threats to their lives from respondent No.2. She alleges that respondent No. 2 even hired some anti-social persons directing them to chase the petitioner when she had gone to Rampur and other places. The petitioner stated that respondent No. 2 has made her life and life of her husband miserable and he is bent upon to harm them physically and mentally. Therefore, on 25th August, 2003 the petitioner filed Transfer Petition Nos. 564, 565 and 568 of 2003 in this Court praying for transfer of civil suits from the Court of Civil Judge, Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, to Civil Judge, Tis Hazari, Delhi. In the meantime, as a counter blast, respondent No. 2 filed an application/complaint dated 25th September 1996 before the Superintendent of Police, Rampur, and obtained an order of registration of false and fabricated case FIR No. 160 dated 17th October, 2003 in Police Station, Bilaspur, District Rampur, under Sections 463, 468, 420 of IPC on the allegations that during hearing of revision applications filed by the petitioner against the mutation orders before the Collector and an application for condonation of delay in filing the said revision petitions, the Collector had noticed that the dates of applications submitted for obtaining copies of orders of mutations recorded by Tehsildar, Bilaspur, were interpolated for 09 May, 2002 as 18 May, 2002. The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur on 10th October, 2003 issued warrant of arrest against the petitioner. On 19th December, 2003, respondent No. 2 and some police personnel accompanying him forcibly dragged the petitioner from Chandigarh and she was brought to Rampur in a private vehicle. On 20th December, 2003, she was produced in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur. She filed bail application which came to be rejected by the Chief Judicial Magistrate on 23rd December, 2003. In the meantime, the police filed charge sheet in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate against the petitioner on 22nd December, 2003 under Sections 466, 468, 471 and 420 of IPC, the subject matter of Case No. 1434/2004. However, on 24th December, 2003 the petitioner was released on bail by the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No. 2, Rampur. Again, on 27th February, 2004 the respondent No. 2 filed one more complaint making similar allegations and the police under the influence of respondent No. 2 registered another FIR under Sections 466, 467, 468, 471 and 420 of IPC against the petitioner. On the basis of the said charge sheet, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur, on 13th July, 2004 took cognizance of Case No. 3045/2004 against the petitioner. On 25th May, 2004/3rd June, 2004, the petitioner filed Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 4313 of 2004 under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing Case No. 1434/2004 before the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad which, according to the petitioner, is still pending.

This Court vide order dated 9th August, 2004 transferred Original Case No. 268/2002 titled as Col. Hargobind Singh through Attorney Smt. Parminder Kaur v. Prabhjot Singh & Ors., Original Case No. 266/2002 titled as Col. Hargobind Singh through Attorney Smt. Parminder Kaur v. Har Gur Saran Singh & Ors. and Original Case No. 267/2002 titled as Smt. Amrinder Kaur through Attorney Smt. Parminder Kaur v. Har Gur Saran Singh & Ors. pending in the Court of Civil Judge (Junior Division), Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, to the District Judge, Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi, who was requested to either try the proceedings himself or to make over the same for trial to any other court of competent jurisdiction. The petitioner on the premises above-said filed these transfer petitions inter alia contending that she is an ailing old woman of 72 years of age and needs medical and physical care and in such conditions, it is very difficult for her to undertake tiring journey from Chandigarh or from Delhi to the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur to defend the cases pending against her. The petitioner's husband is also an old and ailing person of 76 years of age who is wholly dependent on his daughters and is residing with them in USA. There is no other male member in the family of the petitioner who would accompany her to Rampur. The police of Rampur is in collusion with respondent No. 2 who is a nefarious litigant and in such circumstances no fair trial is possible from the court at Rampur. The civil suits are pending in Delhi and therefore, the criminal cases lodged by respondent No. 2 against the petitioner at Rampur shall also be transferred to Delhi or Chandigarh in the interest of justice and as the petitioner's life would be in danger if she goes to Rampur to appear in the court during the trial of the cases in view of an open threat extended to her life by respondent No. 2.

In reply to the transfer applications, respondent No. 2 has given a detailed background of the family history of the parties involved in these cases. In substance, his defence is that his elder brother Lt. Col. (Retd.) Hargobind Singh, husband of the petitioner, purchased 23 acres of land in Revenue Estate of village Behait, Tehsil Bilaspur, District Rampur, Uttar Pradesh. His brother executed General Power of Attorney dated 3rd April, 1970 duly registered in the Office of Sub-Registrar, Saugor (Madhya Pradesh), appointing and constituting respondent No. 2 as a General Attorney authorizing him to cultivate, look after and deal with his agricultural land. Out of 23 acres of land, the petitioner's husband had gifted 6 acres of land to his adopted daughter Smt. Amrinder Kaur in the year 1979. Smt. Amrinder Kaur also appointed respondent No.2 as her Attorney with effect from 27th March, 1991. He stated that as an obedient brother and as an affectionate uncle of Smt. Amrinder Kaur he cultivated, protected and supervised the landed property of his brother and niece to the best of his ability and from time to time he remitted the profits derived from their landed property to them. He submitted that he paid the land revenue of the lands and also protected the lands from being acquired by the State Government under the Provisions of U.P. Agricultural Land Ceiling Act. He averred that since the year 1987 the petitioner and her husband are citizens of USA and they are persons of means and status whereas, on the other hand, he is a marginal/poor farmer holding meagre agricultural land. He pleaded that in the year 1990, the petitioner's husband and his daughter asked him to get some portions of their lands sold and transferred, but at that point of time there were no buyers readily available in the market due to terrorist activities prevailing in the area. However, later on as per the instructions of Smt. Amrinder Kaur, he sold 06 acres of her land in favour of his daughter Smt. Namrata Chandi and Col. Sarabjit Singh vide registered sale deed dated 3rd July, 1991 and consequently, the land was mutated in their names in the revenue records. Similarly, on the instructions of petitioner's husband he sold 9 acres of land by a registered sale deed dated 7th January, 1996 in favour of Prabodh Singh and Balbir Singh and handed over the possession of the land bearing Khata No. 1/5 to them. Another piece of land measuring 5.36 acres owned by the husband of the petitioner was also sold by registered sale deed dated 10th January, 1996 to Manjit Singh and Balbir Singh. Thus, as an Attorney of petitioner's husband and daughter and on their express instructions he sold and transferred their agricultural land measuring 20.36 acres to the bona fide purchasers and the amounts of sale consideration were duly remitted by bank drafts to both the owners without any delay on his part. It is his case that the petitioner came to India in the year 2002 and by that time the prices of land shot up in and around the village where the agricultural lands are situated. He stated that the petitioner is actuated with lust and greed for money and hence compelled him to get more money from the above named bona fide purchasers who are the common relatives of both of them. He stated that he tried his best to persuade the petitioner not to raise any demand for more money but she remained adamant and on his refusal to accede to her illegal demand, the petitioner unblemishably extended threat to teach him a lesson. She with a mala fide and dishonest intention filed civil suits for cancellation of the sale deeds in the Court of Civil Judge, (Junior Division), Rampur, which later were on transferred by this Court to the court in Delhi. He stated that the petitioner interpolated the dates in the certified copies issued from the revenue records, Rampur, with a mala fide intention to get delay of more than eleven years condoned from the Collector against the order of Tehsildar, Rampur. She submitted forged and fabricated documents in the civil court. He has admitted having filed two criminal cases against the petitioner in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rampur, in which she was granted bail by the Additional Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court, Rampur. Further, he stated in his counter affidavit that he and his elder brother Lt. Col. (Retd.) Hargobind singh are joint owners of House No. 1394, Sector 33-C at Chandigarh in equal shares as per family settlement dated 10th November, 1970. The petitioner with a mala fide intention to grab the share of respondent No. 2, clandestinely entered into an agreement of sale of that house with one Pritam Kaur Sekhon, resident of 3015, Sector 19-D, Chandigarh, and received Rs. 1,00,000/- from her as advance money. Subsequent to the first agreement, the petitioner again entered into second agreement with regard to the same property with Charan Jiv Singh and Mrs. Hariti Singh, resident of House No. 324, Sector 9-D, Chandigarh, and received Rs. 5,00,000/- from them as earnest money and obtained No Objection Certificate [NOC] in favour of the purchasers from the Estate Office, Chandigarh. The petitioner after receiving the earnest money again backed out from the terms of the agreement and also compelled Charan Jiv Singh and Mrs. Hariti Singh to file civil and criminal cases against her. They got a public notice published in a local daily advising the public at large not to enter into any agreement in regard to the said property as it was purchased by them from the petitioner. He stated that he came to know about the aforesaid illegal and nefarious acts of the petitioner regarding the disposal of House No. 1394, Sector-33 C at Chandigarh. He filed Civil Suit No.79/2004 against his elder brother for declaration claiming 50 per cent share in the joint property which is pending in the Court of Civil Judge, Junior Division, Chandigarh. He stated that both the petitioner as well as her husband Lt. Col. (Retd.) Hargobind Singh are contesting the said case. The petitioner has lodged several false complaints in the court at Chandigarh against him and his son who is serving as Major in the Indian Army. It is his version that he was granted anticipatory bail by the court in a case registered by the petitioner vide FIR No. 228 dated 20th July, 2005 of P.S. Sector 34, Chandigarh. The petitioner filed an application dated 24th October, 2005 for cancellation of his bail but the same was rejected by the District and Sessions Judge, Chandigarh.

In the result, for the above-said reasons, these transfer petitions are dismissed accordingly.

Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No.6163 of 2004:

In view of the subsequent development, this Special Leave Petition does not survive and it stands disposed of having rendered infructuous.