SOHAN SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners, namely Sohan Singh, Bachhittar Singh, Gurvinder Singh, Jugraj Singh alias Joga and Ninder Singh, who are accused in case bearing FIR No.50 dtd. 23/3/2018 under Sec. 376 IPC and Sec. 10(3) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 pertaining to Police Station Patti, District Tarn Taran (Annexure P3), have invoked jurisdiction of this Court under Sec. 482 Cr.P.C. seeking transfer of investigations to an agency of repute or to a special investigating team as the official respondents are carrying on investigations contrary to the principles of natural justice falsely fabricating evidence and are working under the political influence for attaining a sinister design of political vendetta.

(2.) The petitioners in their petition claim that father of petitioner No.1 and grandfather of petitioners No.2 and 3, namely Kashmir Singh happened to be the Sarpanch of village Rasulpur, District Tarn Taran from the year 2008 to 2014 and thereafter mother of petitioner No.3 namely Dalbir Kaur was elected as Sarpanch. It is alleged that the petitioners are staunch supporters of Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and on account of their influence in the area, have been continuing to be the Sarpanch of their village for the last more than eight years. It is alleged that the local sitting MLA happens to be from the opposition party of Congress and on account of political victimization had got false case registered against the petitioners which is annexed as Annexure P/1. It is alleged that a bare perusal of the FIR shows the abundant misuse of the process of the Law and the futile effort in false implication of the entire family of the petitioners for a motivated cause and thus, sought that the alleged allegations need to be investigated by an agency of repute.

(3.) The official respondents in their reply which has been adopted even by the private respondents, though took the preliminary objections that the petition was an outcome of misrepresentation of the facts and denied any such representation earlier made by the petitioners side apprehending their false implication and claimed that the police had acted in a fair and impartial manner on the allegations of the complainant. On merits though accepted the inter-se relationship of the petitioners and the fact that they are owing allegiance to Akali Dal (Badal) party but denied the allegations so levelled against the respondents and claimed that the FIR so claimed by the petitioners to have been falsely registered was based on truth and there were genuine allegations and sought dismissal of the petition.