Supreme Court protects woman advocate, her mother in FIR following property dispute with uncle

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has come to the rescue of a woman advocate and her mother, by staying criminal proceedings initiated against them in a case lodged by her own deceased father's younger brother in a bid to grab the family properties.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi ordered that no coercive action would be taken against the petitioners Anjali Singh and her mother till further orders and no fresh FIR would be registered against them without prior permission of this court.

After hearing advocate Dushyant Parashar for the petitioners, the court also directed the Superintendent of Police, Bulandshahr and the SHO, Kotwali Sahar to ensure that no harm is caused to the life and liberty of the petitioners, and if need be, adequate protection would be provided to them.

The court issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and others and directed the police to ensure the presence of the respondent-uncle before it on the next date of hearing.

The court also restrained the petitioners from lodging any fresh FIR against the opposite parties, uncle Anil Kumar and his wife, Sadhna Kumar who were also restrained from alienating or creating third party rights in respect to the properties, said to have inherited from their common ancestor.

"The petitioners shall also not be dispossessed from their share in the joint property house where they are currently residing. However, the petitioners shall also not take any adverse action against respondent Nos.7 and 8 or their family members,'' the bench said.

Before posting the matter for further consideration, the court directed the Superintendent of Police, Bulandshahr to submit a report with respect to the genesis of the dispute between the parties and would appear before this court either in person or online on the date fixed.

The plea claimed since petitioner's father died in 2002, her uncle by faking a will of her grandmother had tried to usurp the ancestral house of the petitioners and also registered a false and frivolous FIR on December 24, 2020 on the fabricated allegation of acid throwing and putting house ablaze. They have to remain in jail for one month in the case. The petitioners also stated they filed a civil suit challenging the validity of the Will.