SATBEER SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has filed this writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution and sought stay of the criminal case initiated on the basis of FIR No. 60 dated 8-11-1991, under Sections 419, 465, 467, 468, 471 read with Section 120-B, I.P.C. Police Station City Fazilka, untill decision in the civil suit pending between the parties. That civil suit has been filed by Sarvinder Singh, complainant in the FIR, against the petitioner and others for getting a declaration that the said Sarvinder Singh (complainant) has become the owner in possession of the various properties left behind by deceased Heera Devi, and that the present petitioner and others (who are defendants in that civil suit) should be permanently restrained from interfering with the peaceful possession of the plaintiff of the land in question. Incidentally, it may be mentioned that land in dispute in criminal case is also included in the civil suit. The civil sit, however, covers few more lands with which I am not concerned. In that civil suit, plaintiff Sarvinder Singh (complainant) relies on a will executed in his favour by Heera Devi deceased. In that suit he has not referred to the document dated 5-4-1991 by which the present petitioner is said to have purchased the tenancy rights from Harnam Singh who is said to be cultivating the land as a tenant of Smt. Rajinder Kaur, the grandmother of the petitioner.

(2.) Briefly stated, therefore, the document dated 5-4-1991 is not the subject-matter for consideration in the suit filed by the complainant. The complaint, however, pertains to the forgery of that document dated 5-4-1991. The suit has been filed on 13-6-1991. The First Information Report has been filed on 3-11-1991.

(3.) Thus, the question for determination is whether in this case criminal proceedings should be stayed until the decision of the civil suit.