SURATIA Vs. JAILAL THAKUR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a reference by the Sessions Judge of Muzaffarpur in which the learned Sessions Judge has recommended that the order of the learned Munsif Magistrate of Muzaffarpur in a proceeding under Section 145, Code of Criminal Procedure, should be reversed in the following circumstances.

(2.) The dispute which gave rise to the proceeding under Section 145, Code of Criminal Procedure, related to some lands comprised in two khatas, khata, No. 13 and khata No. 20, situate in village Bandhpura, police station Katra in the district of Muzaffarpur. Very shortly stated, the case of the first party before the learned Magistrate was that she, namely, Mt. Suratia, was the mother of Rambilas, who admittedly was the last male owner of the lands. Mt. Suratia said that after the death of her son, she came in possession of the lands, and cultivated them through her bataidars who were other members of the first party. The case of the second party before the learned Magistrate was that Rambilas left a widow, named Mt. Jagtia, and she sold the lands to some of the members of the second party by means of sale deeds executed on the 31st May 1949. Soon after, the local police submitted a report of an apprehension of a breach of the peace, and on that report, first a proceeding under Section 144, Code of Criminal Procedure, and then a proceeding under Section 145, Code of Criminal Procedure, were started.

(3.) The learned Munsif Magistrate, who dealt with the proceeding under Section 145 Cr. P. C., held, by his order dated the 9th February 1951, that the second party was in possession of the lands in dispute on the date of the order under Section 145 Cr. P. C.