Use of violence for possession of land not permissible: HC

Land ownership is determined in the courts of law and not in the fields through the clang of swords or the echoes of firearms, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held. Justice Namit Kumar has added that the moment a person takes law into his own hands, “he ceases to seek it”.

Attacking people with weapons to forcibly seize possession of land “cannot be permitted in an agriculturist state like Punjab”, Justice Namit Kumar added.

The assertion came as the Bench dismissed an anticipatory bail plea in an attempt-to-murder case registered following alleged attempt to take forcible possession of disputed properties, while observing that conduct, if left unchecked, would corrode the rule of law and the very faith of people in the judicial system.

“If acts of this nature, wherein individuals attempt to take forcible possession of disputed properties through violence and intimidation are not dealt with firmly, it will set a dangerous precedent and send an adverse message to the society at large, thereby undermining the rule of law and public confidence in the justice system,” the Bench ruled.

Justice Namit Kumar was told that the case arose from an FIR registered on April 9 under the BNS and the Arms Act at the Doraha police station in Ludhiana.