On realtor's behest, T'gana cops arrest 70-yr widow, get SC rap

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court has slammed the Telangana Police for converting a civil land dispute into a criminal case at the behest of an influential builder to arrest and harass a retired Major General's 70-year-old widow, quashed the FIR and asked the complainant to pay Rs 10 lakh to her.

The Delhi-based woman owned a 500 square yard plot in Gachibowli village in Telangana's Ranga Reddy district. In 2020, the complainant approached her husband for sale of the plot, then valued at Rs 7 crore. Before the deal could materialise, the retired Army officer passed away. As his wife and daughter found it difficult to manage the plot from Delhi, they orally agreed in Oct 2020 to sell it to the complainant for Rs 5.75 crore.

The complainant paid Rs 4.05 crore through banking channels and later claimed he had paid Rs 75 lakh in cash. When the officer's widow demanded the balance and refused to sign the sale deed, the complainant lodged a complaint in Dec 2020. Police registered an FIR and arrested her in Jan 2021, resulting in eight-day incarceration. She had unsuccessfully moved Telangana high court for quashing the FIR.

Accepting the woman's arguments presented through advocate Vanshaja Shukla, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta slammed the Telangana Police and said, "In gross disregard to all tenets of law, the impugned FIR was registered for allegations which had no elements of any offence whatsoever what to talk of a cognizable offence."

Writing the judgment, Justice Mehta said, "The fact that the widow was arrested in this frivolous FIR clearly shows the clout of the company, of which the complainant is an agent, on the police agency as not only did the complainant manage to get FIR registered but, thereafter, also saw to it that she is arrested and humiliated by keeping her in custody for eight days."

SC also criticised the high court for dealing with her quashing plea in a pedantic manner. The HC disposed of her petition in a cryptic manner without even touching the merits of the case, the apex court said.

During the hearing of the appeal in SC, the woman had offered to return Rs 4.05 crore paid by the complainant, who refused and demanded interest on the amount to settle the dispute.

SC said, "It is a fit case wherein the complainant should be penalised with exemplary cost for misusing the process of criminal law in a case which was of purely civil nature." It directed him to pay Rs 10 lakh to her and directed police to provide her security whenever she is in town to deal with her land.