Gujarat High Court Upholds Acquittal Of Man Accused Of Forging Records To Grab Land Vacated After Migration Of Owners To Pakistan In 1971

The Gujarat High Court has upheld an order of trial court acquitting one Rayma Adham Sela accused of forging documents to show himself as the legal heir of original landowners who migrated to Pakistan in the year 1971-72.

A Bench comprising Justice SH Vora and Justice Rajendra Sareen was told that after the original owners of the land and house left for Pakistan, the accused created false, fabricated and concocted affidavits and entered their names in the revenue records by committing offence of cheating and forgery.

However, the bench noted that no iota of evidence was placed on record by the complainant regarding any kind of fraud, cheating, etc. alleged to have been committed by the accused.

"It is mentioned by all the witnesses that they are unknown to the fact that in whose name the house and land are resting. The accused have executed documents of the land but when they have executed and how they have executed is not known to any of the witnesses...They are totally ignorant of the fact that how the revenue records are holding the names of the accused and since when."

The complainant had lodged a complaint for offences punishable under Sections 406. 465, 467, 468, 471, 114 and 120(B) of the IPC. It was alleged that the land in question was to be taken over as per the Evacuee Property Act however, since the aforesaid revenue entry was not recorded, taking advantage of the same, the Accused persons fabricated documents to register the property in their names.

The complainant averred that these facts were not appreciated by the trial court. It was further pointed out that the District Collector took suo-motu revision and found the revenue entry of the disputed land illegal. Accordingly, the mutated entries were deleted. Per the Complainant, this aspect was ignored by the trial court.