Telangana High Court Quashes Criminal Case Against Woman in Land Dispute
Telangana High Court quashes criminal proceedings against a 61 year old woman of Gaddiannaram against government land claims, because it fails to prove it is government land through any document and issuing of criminal proceedings in absence of provisions prescribed that go over sullen boundaries.
Telangana High Court quashed criminal offence against a 61-year-old widowed woman, who was charged with trespass into an alleged government land in Gaddiannaram, near Malakpet as the government failed to prove ownership of land. In her ruling, Justice Ju.v.Sridevi observed that the state had not presented any documentary piece of evidence as to suggest that the land belonged to the government.
The case traces back to a 2021 complaint by the Saidabad mandal tahsildar, who has accused the woman of demolishing a government notice board, and building a compound wall and a small room, over a land that was reported kharij khata, or government property. The police registered a complaint against him based on which a case was filed along with a chargesheet against him, at the VII Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Hyderabad.
Follow for more details: munsifdaily.com
The woman in defense, provided a registered sale deed and the chain documents that proved her legal possession of the land through a purchase in 2019. The court also noted that even Central Government was not accepting the rights of the former Nizam on the land, which further puts in question the rights of the government.
Justice Sridevi took the revenue authorities to task when they had improperly Lebensartse 31 turned what was essentially a civil dispute into a criminal one. She also reprimanded the police on the basis that they had filed a chargesheet mechanically with the complaint of the tahsildar without making inquiries to establish the record of ownership.
Also Read: KTR Challenges Revanth and the Rebel MLAs to Quit, Fight By-Elections
The ruling underlined the view that, where there occurs ownership dispute, the mechanism to be used is commencement of revenue proceedings-not a criminal case. With reference to the case, the court found that the land in question seemingly belongs to a private person rather than a government body and dismissed the criminal case citing lack of the stringent standard of evidence required in criminal cases.
The verdict also highlights the law courts demand on paying due respect to the provisions of due process and proper categorization of legal convictions. It emphasizes the relevance of documentary evidence in any criminal cases and reminds that civil litigation over property cannot be turned into a weapon with the help of the criminal law.
