In the High Court of Uttarakhand at Nainital
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[RESERVED] IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 1182 of 2020 Umesh Kumar Sharma ....... Petitioner Versus State of Uttarakhand and another …....Respondents With Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 1187 of 2020 Umesh Kumar Sharma ....... Petitioner Versus State of Uttarakhand and another …....Respondents With Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 1285 of 2020 Shiv Prasad Semwal ....... Petitioner Versus State of Uttarakhand and others …....Respondents Present: Mr. Kapil Sibal, Senior Advocate, Mr. Shyam Diwan, Senior Advocate assisted by Mr. Arunav Chaudhary, Mr. Ankur Chawla and Mr. Aditya Singh, Advocates for the Petitioners. Mr. P.S. Pattwalia Senior Advocate assisted by Ms Ruchira Gupta, Deputy Advocate General and Mr. J.S. Virk, Deputy Advocate General for the State. Mr. Ramji Srivastava and Mr. Navneet Kaushik, Advocates for the Respondent Harender Singh Rawat JUDGMENT Hon’ble Ravindra Maithani, J. A common question of law has been raised in these writ petitions, hence, they are being decided by this common judgment. 2. Petitioners seek quashing of the communication dated 07.07.2020, the inquiry report dated 30.07.2020 and the FIR No. 265 of 2020, under Sections 420, 467, 468, 469, 471, 120B IPC, Police Station Nehru Colony, District Dehradun. 3. In this judgment, parties and contents shall be referred to with their reference to the Writ Petition (Criminal) [WPCRL] No. 1187 of 2020. FACTS 4. On 24.06.2020, the petitioner uploaded a video on asocial media page (“the social media publication”)and showed documents on a computer screen with certain bank accounts allegedly belonging to the respondent no.2 Dr Harender Singh Rawat (hereinafter referred to as “the informant”) and his wife Smt. Savita Rawat. The petitioner claimed that after demonitisation in the year 2016, money was deposited in the accounts of the informant and his wife, which was meant as a bribe for Trivendra Singh Rawat, Chief Minister of Uttarakhand (for short “TSRCM”). In the video, the petitioner also claimed that Smt. Savita Rawat is the real sister of the wife of TSRCM andTSRCM realized bribe money through deposits made in the bank accounts of the informant and his wife. 5. On 09.07.2020, the informant gave an application dated 07.07.2020 (“the communication dated 07.07.2020”) to the police with a request for an inquiry into the allegations levelled against him by the petitioner in the social media publication. In the communication dated 09.07.2020, the informant wrote that he is a retired Professor and due to health reasons, he 2 resigned. His wife Dr Savita Rawat is an Associate Professor. The informant referred to the allegations made in the social media publication, and submitted that :- 5.1. It is totally wrong that he is a relative of TSRCM. 5.2. It is totally wrong that his wife is sister of the wife of TSRCM. 5.3. It is totally wrong that during demonitisation any money was deposited from Jharkhand in his or his family member’s account. 6. The communication dated 07.07.2020 of the informant was supported by the certificates of the bank and according to the informant the petitioner was misleading the public by making these claims and injuring their family reputation. 7. The informant requested that the false allegations levelled by the petitioner in the social media publication may be inquired into. 8. On this communication dated 07.07.2020, an inquiry was conducted by MsPallavi Tyagi, Circle Officer, Nehru Nagar,District Dehradun (for short “the CO”) and after inquiry, it was concluded that :- 8.1. During demonetisation money was not deposited from Jharkhand in the accounts of the informant or his family members 8.2. The informant is not a relative of TSRCM and the wife of the informant is not the sister of the wife of TSRCM. 8.3. That the documents on the basis of which it is claimed that the money was deposited in the accounts of the informant and his family members are definitely forged. 9. This report was prepared by the CO on 30.07.2020. The informant sought information about the action taken on his communication dated 07.07.2020 and on 31.07.2020, a copy of the report dated 30.07.2020 was given to the informant under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (for short 3 “the RTI Act”). Based on it, on the same day, FIR No. 265 of 2020 under Sections 420, 467, 468, 469, 471 & 120B IPC, Police Station Nehru Colony, District Dehradun was lodged by the informant (“the instant FIR”). It is(translation) as hereunder:- “To, Station In-charge, P.S. Nehru Colony, Dehradun Sir, Humble submission is that I, Dr Harinder Singh Rawat, I am a retired Professor, and presently I am Manager of College of Education, Miyanwala, Dehradun. I am President of Dairy Firms Associations. Last year (sic month) as I underwent into a bypass surgery therefore I resigned from the post of President. My wife Dr Savita Rawat is Associate Professor in B.Ed. Department of DAV (PG) College Dehradun. Last year my known Shri Jyoti Vijay Rawat has informed me that a man named Umesh Kumar Sharma who generally known as a blackmailer and in the past he had got imprisonment. He has uploaded his one video in Facebook, in which he leveled allegations against me and my wife that during the demonetization one man named Mr Amratesh Singh Chauhan has deposited in different bank accounts of my, my wife and Progressive Dairy Farm Association for paying to Shri Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat, which was taken by Shri Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat as bribe for appointing Mr. Amratesh Chauhan as President of Cow Sewa Commission. He strongly tried to project my wife Dr Savita Rawat as real elder sister of the wife of Shri Mr. Trivendra Singh Rawat, who is present Chief Minister. Sir, I want to make it clear that all the allegations leveled in the said telecasted video are entirely false, baseless and fraudulent. Either me or my wife are not having any relationship with Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat. In the said telecasted video, said Umesh Kumar Sharma is showing a fabricated documents relating to cash money deposited in bank accounts. He is claiming that vide those documents said Amratesh Chauhan resident of Jharkand has deposited cash in bank accounts of me and my wife. Umesh Kumar Sharma and Amratesh Chauhan in collusion with each other under a preplanned conspiracy through their associates have illegally obtained information related to me and my wife’s bank accounts and have made our personal information public because of which any fraud can be committed with us. They have hatched a conspiracy about cash money deposited and concerned documents and showed fabricated documents on the social media to the general public with a motive to fulfill their purposes and motives. Umesh Kumar Sharma claimed the 4 fabricated documents as original and posed faith upon public that bribe money is credited in my and my wife’s accounts because of which, me and my wife suffered mental shock and public is talking and different kinds of things about us. My bypass surgery was conducted on 24.08.2019 because of which it also put adverse effect on my health and it deteriorated my health. Because of decrease in my health, it created danger to my life so I had to again go to doctor for taking treatment. On 07.07.2020, I gave an application to Director General of Police, Garhwal Region Office, Senior Superintendent of Police, Dehradun for conducting inquiry of the allegations leveled against me by the said Umesh Kumar Sharma. Upon my application, one Gazetted Officer conducted inquiry and during the inquiry, he obtained bank details of all my bank accounts and found that in any of my bank accounts, no money was deposited from Jharkhand by any person named Amratesh Chauhan. But, when the Inquiry Officer through e- mail asked questions from Umesh Kumar Sharma about the receipt of money deposited and bank related documents, then he replied that all documents are available with him, which proves that all fraudulent documents related to money deposited in bank accounts are lying in possession of Umesh Kumar Sharma. In order to make sensational to our video, Umesh Kumar Sharma has addressed in his video that after learning about this bribe scam, whether your understanding and thinking power is collapsed, who are these Harinder Singh Rawat and Savita Rawat. Savita Rawat is elder sister of the Hon’ble Chief Minister’s wife. Apart from this, his other associates, who all are involved with him in his business of blackmailing and are running news portals and newspapers, which includes Prahad TV, Crime Story and Parwat Jan. Because of all this, me and my family are facing mental torture and ferocity. Therefore, it is prayed to your good self that a report of the applicant may kindly be registered against above culprit persons and strict legal action be taken against them and also provide protection to me, because these persons are of criminal nature. Applicant (Dr Harinder Singh Rawat) (Annexure 2 to the writ petition) (emphasis supplied) BACKGROUND 10. The instant litigation is not a single case against the petitioner. There are series of cases against him and according to him, the present petition emanates out of the allegations made by one AmrateshSingh Chauhan against TSRCM that he had paid Rs.25,00,000/- to TSRCM for his 5 appointment as the Chairman of Gau Seva Ayog, Jharkhand as TSRCM was the Party State In-charge of Jharkhand at the relevant time. According to the petition, AmrateshSingh Chauhan had claimed as hereunder:- “8.