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Randheer Singh v. The State of U.P.

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 440Decided 2 Sept 2021
Criminal Appeal No. 932 of 2021
Justice Indira Banerjee · Justice J.K. Maheshwari

Background

The appellant, Randheer Singh, had purchased property through sale deeds executed by one Rajan Kumar acting under a power of attorney from a woman named Bela Rani. A third party, Afroz Athar, who claimed to have separately bought the same house, lodged an FIR alleging that the power of attorney was false and that the appellant and others were trying to forcibly grab the house. A charge sheet was filed and summons issued, after which the appellant's plea to quash the proceedings was rejected by the Allahabad High Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found the FIR and charge sheet to be vague, with no specific allegation showing how the appellant personally committed any criminal offence: the dispute over whether Bela Rani validly owned and could sell the property was fundamentally a civil title question, not a criminal one. The Court noted that Bela Rani herself, the person alleged to have forged the document, was never even examined by investigators, undermining the claim of forgery. Relying on its precedents on misuse of Section 482 and the line between civil wrongs and criminal offences (cheating requires deception and inducement, not merely a disputed sale), the Court held that criminal law was being used as a tool of harassment against a purchaser. It allowed the appeal and quashed the criminal proceedings against the appellant.

Lesson Learnt

A genuine property title dispute between rival claimants should ordinarily be fought in a civil court, not converted into a criminal case; courts will quash criminal proceedings that are vague and essentially used to pressure a party in what is really a civil dispute.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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