Nirmaljit Kaur, J. - (1.) THIS is a petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C for quashing of FIR No. 24 dated 20.02.2007 registered under Sections 419/420 IPC at Police Station Mahilpur, District Hoshiarpur and subsequent proceedings arising there from.
(2.) THE FIR, in question, was registered at the behest of Satvir Singh, Sarpanch, wherein, it is submitted that a resolution was passed by Panchayat of Village Kalewal Fattu that the signatures of Kulwant Kaur wife of Paramjit Singh, Member Panchayat are forged in an application moved by the present Petitioner -Kulwinder Singh son of Mohan Singh against Satvir Singh, Sarpanch. Kulwant Kaur, Member Panchayat has also given an affidavit that she had not signed the said application. After obtaining opinion from the District Attorney, the FIR was registered. The matter was investigated into. Now the challan has also been filed in the present case. Learned Counsel for the Petitioner, while praying for quashing of the FIR, raised following arguments: (a) Paramjit Singh husband of Kulwant Kaur had taken the signatures of Kulwant Kaur. Paramjit Singh has refused to give his signatures. As such, it is evident that it is Paramjit Singh, who has either procured her signatures or signed on her behalf. (b) The Petitioner had also obtained the opinion of the Forensic Expert, namely, Kranti K. Sharma, Chandigarh, whose report is dated 02.03.2007 as Annexure P -7. In this report, the Forensic and Handwriting Expert has clearly come to the conclusion that the disputed/questioned signature has not been written by the Petitioner . The prosecution also got compared the hand writing of the Petitioner with the disputed signature of Kulwant Kaur by way of a reference moved by the Senior Superintendent of Police, Hoshiarpur to the Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Punjab, Chandigarh, whose report is dated 25.06.2007, which shows that the Petitioner has not put the signatures of Kulwant Kaur on complaint dated 15.06.2006 which was signed by about sixty villagers. (c) Further, the allegations leveled in the application given by the Petitioner against Satvir Singh were found to be false and proceedings under Section 182 Cr.P.C were proceeded against him. The police had also filed Calendar under Section 182 Cr.P.C against the Petitioner but the same was quashed by the High Court in Crl. Misc. No. 7693 -M of 2007 vide order dated 31.03.2008. It is further stated that there is no iota of evidence to connect the Petitioner with the allegation as neither anybody had seen the Petitioner signing nor is there any other evidence connecting the present Petitioner. (d) The allegations in the FIR, coupled with the fact that there is no evidence, will result in acquittal of the Petitioner and continuation of the proceedings will only amount to waste of time. Moreover, the allegations are mala fide and complaint is filed on account of political reasons as the complaint is a Sarpanch and the present Petitioner had moved an application against him.
(3.) LEARNED Counsel for the Respondent -State, on the other hand, submitted that the report of the handwriting expert, in no way absolves the Petitioner as the said report rather shows that the said signatures do not belong to Kulwant Kaur. The matter was investigated and the challan has already been filed against the Petitioner. Further, the application dated 15.06.2006 on which the forged signatures were obtained was moved at the behest of the Petitioner. As such, he is liable for the forged signatures of Kulwant Kaur.;