2 Chandigarh Housing Board officials get six-month jail for trespass

Chandigarh, July 11

A local court has sentenced two officials of the Chandigarh Housing Board — Kailash Garg, SDE (Store) Enforcement, and Kirpal Singh, AE — to undergo six months of rigorous imprisonment for entering a house of an allottee without notice. Both officials have been held guilty of house trespass.

The court passed the order on a complainant filed by Vinod Kumar Bansal, a resident of Modern Housing Complex, Mani Majra, who had alleged that the officials visited his house on February 28, 2012, without any prior notice and threatened his wife.

Bansal stated that on the same day, he submitted a complaint with the CHB Secretary regarding the misbehaviour of the two officers and their act of forcibly entering his house. Instead of taking any action against them, the CHB Secretary issued a notice under Section 15 of the Capital of Punjab (Development & Regulation) Act, 1952, to him, he stated.

Bansal said the accused had acted on the complaint of another resident of the complex. He alleged that officials illegally entered the house and insulted and threatened his wife.

The counsel for the complainant stated that as per the terms and conditions of the allotment, a prior notice of 24 hours should be given to the allottee for the inspection of the house.

The counsel for the officials argued that there was no criminal intention nor the same had been established by the complainant for proving the ingredients of criminal trespass.

After hearing of the arguments, the court observed that the complainant proved the ingredients of Section 448 (house trespass) of the IPC against the accused Kailash Garg and Kirpal Singh beyond reasonable doubt. Hence, the accused were held guilty under Section 448 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo RI of six months each.