Supreme Court Quashes Forgery Case Against Former Punjab CM Prakash Singh Badal & Akali Dal Leaders Over Party's Dual Constitution
The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the criminal proceedings pending against Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his father and five-time former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, and party senior vice-president Daljit Singh Cheema in an alleged forgery case over the political party’s dual constitutions.Parkash Singh Badal had passed away at the age of 95 on April...
The Supreme Court on Friday quashed the criminal proceedings pending against Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, his father and five-time former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, and party senior vice-president Daljit Singh Cheema in an alleged forgery case over the political party’s dual constitutions.
Parkash Singh Badal had passed away at the age of 95 on April 25.
The bench comprising Justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar pronounced:
"We have considered the relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, and observe that even taking into consideration the allegations, none of the ingredients of the offences are made out. Therefore, the high court ought to have quashed and set aside the summoning order. Even assuming the complainant's averments to be true, the ingredients of the offences are not made out. The summoning order by the trial court is nothing but an abuse of the process of law and this is a ground for quashing the entire criminal proceedings, including the summoning order."
Before concluding, the bench also observed, "We have set aside the summoning order only on the aforesaid ground and not said anything on the constitution of the party. The present order shall not affect the pending proceedings before the High Court of Delhi which is reported to be pending against an order passed by the Election Commission of India."
Background
Under consideration was the issue of whether an offence of forgery was made out since the party has two different versions of its constitution, a secular version for the Election Commission, and another for the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body responsible for the management of Gurudwaras across the country.
The summons that has now been quashed was issued in a criminal case that was lodged on the strength of a complaint by a Hoshiarpur-based social activist and national vice-president of the Socialist Party, Balwant Singh Khera, alleging forgery, cheating, and concealment of facts. He accused the Shiromani Akali Dal of allegedly giving a false undertaking to the Election Commission claiming to be a secular party and abiding by the principles of secularism while contenting elections conducted by the apex religious body at the same time. The appellants were summoned to face the trial under Sections 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (Punishment for forgery), 466 (Forgery of record of Court or of public register, etc), 467 (Forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (Forgery for purpose of cheating), and 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) read with Section 120 (Concealing design to commit offence punishable with imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
The Badals and Cheema approached the apex court assailing an August 2021 order by which the Punjab and Haryana High Court had refused the quash the summons against them by the additional chief judicial magistrate of Hoshiarpur.
Case Title
Sukhbir Singh Badal v. Balwant Singh Khera & Ors. | Criminal Appeal No. 1116 of 2023 and connected matters
Citation : 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 359