AI Structured Summary
Not yet generated for this judgment
Judgment
The grievances of the petitioner brought forth before this Court is that an FIR was filed before the Officer-In-Charge, Mendipathar P.S. North Garo Hills, Meghalaya by the respondent No. 3 alleging that her property has been trespassed upon by the petitioner and that some members of the petitioner's clan had forcibly opened and taken away some land documents from her house. The Officer-In-Charge, Mendipathar P.S. North Garo Hills, Meghalaya took cognizance of the said matter and issued a notice dated 30.04.2019 to the petitioner, to not enter the property under dispute, which is impugned herein. Being aggrieved as such, the matter is before this Court assailing action of the police as being arbitrary without jurisdiction or authority.
Heard learned counsels for the parties.
Mr. A.S. Siddiqui, learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the police by issuing the notice under Section 188 IPC and also the direction to quit and vacate the house of the petitioner amounts, prima facie, to a decree of a civil Court by which the petitioner has been confiscated of her property. He further submits that the police have no jurisdiction or authority under the Code of Civil Procedure or any other law to confiscate property on an FIR which discloses a dispute which is civil in nature. As such, he prays that the notice dated 30.04.2019 being bad in law be set aside and quashed and the parties be left to seek their own remedy before the appropriate forum that is the civil courts.
Mr. R. Kar, learned counsel on behalf of the respondent No. 3 & 4 has advanced submissions which also reveal that the matter is purely civil in nature, so also do the contents of the affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents 3 and 4 which in fact fortify the submissions of the petitioner as to the nature of the dispute.
I have given my thoughtful consideration to the matter in hand and propose to dispose of the matter at this stage itself.
A police officer's duty is to investigate a case on receipt of an FIR and it is not expected that on the basis of a mere FIR he is to act as a civil Court and to summarily decide the issues over the title over property and further to issue a notice that is in the nature of an injunction as has been done in the present case. Further, the threat of invocation of Section 188 IPC on non compliance with the notice is uncalled for and an absolutely illegal exercise of power.
For the foregoing reasons stated above, the impugned order so assailed is unsustainable in law and the same is accordingly set aside and quashed. The parties are directed to seek appropriate relief from a competent civil Court as the matter is purely a civil dispute in nature.
With the following directions, the writ petition is allowed and disposed of.