- High Court notes haste and malicious intent on part of Chandigarh Police in registering it
Demokretic Front Correspondent, Chandigarh – Sep 29 :
Punjab & Haryana High Court quashed the FIR filed against DesignBoxed, a prominent political campaign management company Director Naresh Arora and pulled up Chandigarh Police for their malafide intent to harass him. Giving a detailed judgement, Justice Vinod Bharadwaj termed the registration of FIR as an ‘abuse of process of law’. The High Court also identified the petition as frivolous and vexatious complaint that should have been nipped in the bud by the preliminary investigative agency and not waste judicial time.
It is to be noted that Ms Sulakhana Bali, a resident of Sector 36, Chandigarh had filed an FIR no. 100 dated June 11, 2022, where she had accused Arora for duping her money.
The High Court asserted that investigating agency showed undue haste in registration of the instant FIR on the same day on which the complaint had been received notwithstanding the guidelines prescribed under law and ignored that the allegations pertained to a money dispute which was more than 7 years old.
Justice Bharadwaj passing a stern observation asserted that it was astonishing that Chandigarh Police showed unnecessary alacrity and oversaw the fact that the complainant had lost a previous case in this matter in the High Court as well as Supreme Court and still expedited the case without looking into the matter properly.
The detailed judgement said that it is the constitutional duty of this Court to quash criminal proceedings that were instituted by misleading the court and abusing its processes of law, only with a view to harass the hapless litigants.
It is to be noted that Bali has recently been booked by Punjab Police in cases related to extortion, blackmailing and criminal intimidation under IPC sections 385, 387, 389, 506, 509 and 120-B. An FIR no. 37 was registered against her at Phase 11 Police Station in Mohali as she was accused of teaming up with notorious gangsters to extort money from the directors of the same company in Chandigarh.
