The Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case observed and has taken action against ‘misuse of the legal process and for filing of ‘frivolous litigation’ wherein the court imposed the cost for an amount of Rs. 10 lakhs on a man who fled the country in disobedience of the Court’s directions and subsequently filed a petition seeking quashing of the cheating case against him.
In the present case, Dr. William Dean was booked for cheating and the Trial Court granted him bail with the condition that he could not leave the country without the permission of the court. The court also rejected the application moved seeking permission to visit abroad.
Therefore, it was submitted before the court that he left the country without permission and he never returned.
The High Court in the case observed and has directed him to remain present in Court on multiple occasions, but he did not appear.
The police issued the non-bailable arrest warrant in January, after he repeatedly failed to appear.
It has been noted that William’s whereabout are not known and he had shifted at an undisclosed place.
The bench headed by Justice Mahabir Singh Sindhu in the case observed and has stated that this court is of the considered view that present petition is nothing; but complete misuse of the process of Court, as a ploy to prolong the proceedings which are pending before learned trial Court arising out of FIR No… Hence, in order to discourage such type of frivolous litigation, thus, this Court deems it appropriate to dismiss the present petition with exemplary costs of Rs. 10 Lakh as a deterrence for the future.
The court in the case was hearing the petition for quashing of FIR under Section 419, Section 420, Section 465, Section 467, Section 471, Section 120-B and Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code, IPC, registered at Punjab’s Sadar Batala, along with all consequential proceedings.
Further, it was also submitted before the court that an FIR was registered on the basis of written complaint made by one Daniel Sadhu Masih, who being the resident of Amritsar, claiming to be the Trustee of a School.
The petitioner in the plea alleged that along with other co-accused, which includes officials from Revenue Department, forged & fabricated certain documents in order to grab the Trust property.
It was also alleged that the petitioner entered into an agreement to sell the land measuring 5.15 Acres which belongs to the Trust with two persons and received earnest money to the tune of Rs. 85 Lakh.
Before the court, it was argued that after investigation, report under Section 173 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Cr.P.C. was presented in 2018 and later a supplementary report under Section 173 (8) Cr.P.C. was also submitted in 2021 before the trial Court.
The court in the case noted that the petitioner left the country without permission, in violation of the direction of trial court’s and he has failed to appear before High Court despite the order of court.
The bench headed by Justice Sindhu in the case observed that there remains no doubt that petitioner is successfully avoiding the judicial proceedings without any justification and had completely misused the concession of bail.
Further, the court reiterated that the petitioner had deliberately disobeyed the order of the High Court as well as of trial Court while leaving the country, without obtaining any permission in this regard.
Adding to it, the court stated that there is no hesitation to observe that petitioner has made the Court proceedings as a mockery and thus, he has no respect for the rule of law.
Accordingly, the court disposed of the petition and has imposed the cost for an amount of Rs. 10 lakhs on the petitioners.
The counsel, Advocate, Gursewak Singh appeared for the petitioner.
The counsel, Joginder Pal Ratra, Sr. DAG, Punjab for respondent No. 1.
The counsel, Advocate, Veneet Sharma represented the respondent No. 2.
The counsel, Advocate Gursewak Singh appeared for the petitioner.