A bench of the Punjab & Haryana High Court dismissed two petitions under Section 482 CrPC seeking quashing of an FIR for cheating and forgery. The court found allegations serious due to financial loss to a bank and dismissed the petitions.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Crl. Misc. M No. 22917 of 2008 (O&M) 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH
Date of Decision:July 09, 2012
Crl. Misc. M No. 22917 of 2008 (O&M)
Jasjit Kaur Gill ..........Petitioner
Versus
State of Punjab and another ..........Respondents
Crl. Misc. M No. 18550 of 2008 (O&M)
Sadhu Singh Gill ..........Petitioner
Versus
State of Punjab and another ..........Respondents
Coram: Hon'ble Mrs. Justice Sabina
Present: Mr.M.S.Khaira, Senior Advocate with Mr.R.S.Khaira,Advocate for the petitioner(s).
Mr.Amandeep Singh, Deputy Advocate General, Punjab Mr.Vikas Chatrath,Advocate for respondent No.2
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Crl. Misc. M No. 22917 of 2008 (O&M)
2
Sabina, J.
Vide this judgment, the above mentioned two petitions, would be disposed of as they have arisen out of the same FIR.
By way of the above petitions, under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,1973 petitioners have sought quashing of FIR No. 32 dated 16.4.1999 under Sections 420, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code (for short`IPC') registered at Police Station City Phagwara District Kapurthala (Annexure P1) and order dated 22.9.2000 (Annexure P9) vide which they were declared proclaimed offenders by the Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate.
Contents of the FIR (Annexure P1) read as under:-
“ Sir Attempted Fraud/Cheating by Shri Sadhu Singh Gill & Mrs. Jasjit Kaur Gill Village Nangal Majha (Teh Phagwara) Sh.Sadhu Singh Gill, a non-resident Indian holder of British Passport No. 015840068 dt. 20.09.95 (Local address s/o Sh.Chattar Singh Village Nangal Majha Teh Phagwara) can rival with his wife Smt. Jasjit Kaur another non-resident Indian holder of Indian Passport No. L771964 dated 29.4.93 in an attempt to defraud./cheat the Bank fully knowing the otherwise facts, by putting through bogus foreign exchange transactions as a result of which our bank suffered a lose of Rs. 8,62,500/(Rs. Eight Lac sixty two thousand and five hundred only). The facts of the case were reported to the DSP Phagwara vide our letter No. SSG/1280 dated 17.3.1999 (copy enclosed for registering of a FIR against both of them. We seek your kind
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Crl. Misc. M No. 22917 of 2008 (O&M)
indulgence in the matter for an early registration of the FIR for recover of our dues. Yours faithfully Sd/- Ravi Rana Br. Manager Encl.”
Learned senior counsel for the petitioners has submitted that no offence was made out against the petitioners as alleged in the FIR. The Manager of the Bank on his own had invested the amount in FDRs which had resulted in bouncing of the cheques issued by the petitioners.
Learned State counsel has submitted that the order vide which the petitioners were declared proclaimed offender has since been set aside and their personal appearance before the trial Court has been exempted.
Learned counsel for respondent No.2, on the other hand, has submitted that the offence alleged to have been committed by the petitioners was serious in nature. The Bank had suffered a huge loss on account of bogus foreign exchange transaction undertaken by the petitioners .
After going through the contents of the FIR, it is evident that the allegations levelled against the petitioners are serious in nature. The petitioners had allegedly put the Bank through bogus foreign transactions and as a result of the same, Bank had suffered huge loss. In these circumstances, at this stage, it would not be appropriate to scuttle the criminal proceedings at the very threshold. The petitioners are presently residing in England. Their personal appearance has already been exempted before the trial Court.
In these circumstances, no ground for interference is made
Crl. Misc. M No. 22917 of 2008 (O&M)
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out.
Dismissed.
( Sabina ) Judge
July 09, 2012
arya
2 issues framed by the court
Whether quashing of the FIR is appropriate when serious allegations of cheque bouncing and cheating causing loss to a bank are present.
Whether the declared status of proclaimed offender affects the quashability of the proceedings given the petitioner's residence abroad.
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Jasjit Kaur Gill
Sadhu Singh Gill
State of Punjab
Another
Sabina
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
