Panchkula woman acquitted of cheating, forgery charges

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 10

A local court has acquitted a Panchkula woman of cheating and forgery charges while terming the probe by the police as shoddy. The UT police had registered the case against the woman, Soma Rani, on a complaint of the PGI, Chandigarh.

As per the complaint, the woman prepared false medical records by forging documents and used these as genuine documents to get her husband, Hakam Rai, released on parole from a jail on the grounds of her illness and caused wrongful loss to the PGI.

On the basis of the complaint, the FIR was registered against the woman on August 27, 2011, for the offence punishable under Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the IPC at the Sector 3 police station, Chandigarh. The accused was arrested. After the completion of investigation, a challan was presented in the court against the accused.

After finding a prima facie case under Sections 420, 468 and 471 of the IPC, the court framed charges against the accused to which she did not plead guilty and claimed trial.

While the prosecution claimed that the woman prepared fake medical reports, counsel for the accused Naveen Upadhyay argued that she was falsely implicated in the case.

Statements of the accused under Section 313 CrPC were also recorded wherein she pleaded herself to be innocent and claimed that she had been falsely implicated in the case.

After hearing the arguments, Chetesh Gupta, Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Chandigarh, said the prosecution failed to prove charges against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

The court said the perusal of the medical certificate revealed that the certificate had been issued by a senior resident of the Department of Urology. However, he was neither made a witness in the present case nor he was ever investigated.

Further, perusal of the reports reveals that mere photocopies of the report had been placed on the file and originals were never produced before the court. A careful scrutiny reveals that the report had been signed but no effort had been made by the investigating agency to inquire as to who had signed the alleged false report. Moreover, the report and the false medical opinion do not pertain to any one department of the PGI, but to various departments i.e. Urology, Cardiology, Endocrinology, Emergency and pre-anaesthesia clinics. It is beyond contemplation that a patient can procure false reports and medical opinions without the involvement of employees of the department concerned.

Further, the petition filed on behalf of the husband of the accused before the Punjab and High Court for parole reveals that it is the husband of the accused who filed an affidavit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court along with the medical reports and record of the accused in order to justify the grounds for parole. Merely because the husband of the accused was the beneficiary of the alleged offence, she cannot be fastened with the liability. Thus, the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt against the accused.

“Before parting, it is relevant to note that the present complaint was registered on the basis of the initiative of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, but the investigating agency proceeded in such a shoddy manner that it created a quagmire out of the matter resulting into failure of justice as neither the role of a doctor nor Hakam Rai was ever investigated into. Thus, in view of the aforesaid discussion, the prosecution has failed to prove the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt and she is acquitted of the allegations levelled against her,” the judge said in the order.

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