High Court
Case Details
Neutral Citation No. - 2024:AHC:124088 Court No. - 82 Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 23832 of 2024 Applicant :- Smt Sunita Goyal Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And 3 Others Counsel for Applicant :- Raza Abbas,Syed Ali Murtaza Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A. Hon'ble Subhash Chandra Sharma,J.
Legal Reasoning
Heard learned counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A. for the State-respondents and perused the record. This application under Section 482 Cr. P.C. has been filed by the applicant with the prayer to stay the entire proceeding of attachment initiated under Sections 82 and 83 Cr. P.C., 1973 by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar and undertaken by the opposite party no.4, namely, the investigating officer of Case Crime No. 248 of 2023, Police Station Sector-20 NOIDA, Gautam Buddh Nagar against the personal residential property of the applicant situated at C-7, 3rd Floor, Cottage Road, Adarsh Nagar, Delhi-33 and stay the effect and operation of the order of attachment dated 17.02.2024 passed under Section 83 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. It is submitted by the learned counsel for the applicant that in this case, applicant Smt. Sunita Goyal is not an accused in Case Crime No.248 of 2023, under Sections 420,467,468,471 and 120-B I.P.C., Police Station Sector-20 NOIDA, District Gautam Buddh Nagar. It is further submitted that her son Anchit Goyal and husband Pradeep Goyal are accused in that case. They are said to be absconder. It is also submitted that a report by the Investigating officer was forwarded to the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate for attachment of House No. C-7, 3rd Floor, Cottage Road, Adarsh Nagar, Delhi-33, which is owned by the applicant. She is registered owner of the present house regarding which, loan was got sanctioned in the name of her elder son, namely S. Goyal. It is also submitted that execution of sale deed was made on 31.10.2019 from Rakesh Kumar Gupta. The electricity connection was also taken in the name of present applicant, copy of which is on record. In this way the property of the applicant was ordered to be attached in pursuance of the application filed by the Investigating Officer to learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar on 17.02.2024. It is also submitted that in view of provision as contained under Section 83 Cr. P.C., the property belonging to the proclaimed offender can only be attached not to any other person. Since the aforesaid property does not belong to the proclaimed offender, namely, Anchit Goyal and Pradeep Goyal, therefore, such property cannot be attached. It is also submitted that learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar without inquiring about the ownership of the property, passed the order in question, which cannot be said to be lawful, therefore, request to quash the order passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar. Learned A.G.A. opposed the prayer as aforesaid and contended that at the time of passing of the order, learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar relied on report as submitted by the investigating officer. As per report of the investigating officer, the proclaimed offender, namely, Anchit Goyal and Pradeep Goyal were residing in the same house with the applicant-Smt Sunita Goyal that was the reason, an order for attachment under Section 83 Cr. P.C. was passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar. If there is any grievance to the applicant, she may file an objection under Section 84 Cr. P.C. before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar, who has passed the order and claim/objection shall be taken into account and decided finally by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar. At this stage, it cannot be said that the property in question belonged to the applicant as a whole or there is any share of proclaimed offender also. Since the order was passed on 17.02.2024 and the property is said to be purchased by the applicant on 31.10.2019. The status of the property between gap from 2019 to 2024 can only be ascertained after inquiry that is to be conducted by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar but not before this Court. On considering the facts and circumstances of the case, submissions made by the learned Counsel for the applicant, learned A.G.A.for the State and perusal of record, report filed by the Investigating Officer and the order passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar on 17.02.2024 making attachment of the property of the proclaimed offender, namely, Anchit Goyal and Pradeep Goyal, it appears that Anchit Goyal and Pradeep Goyal are the son and husband of the present applicant- Smt. Sunita Goyal. The investigating officer mentioned the details of the property in his report to be House No. C-7, 3rd Floor, Cottage Road, Adarsh Nagar, Delhi-33. Registered sale deed and electricity bill, copy of which is on record shows the aforesaid property to be registered in the name of the applicant-Smt. Sunita Goyal and it was executed in the year 2019. The investigating officer reported about the address of the proclaimed offenders to be same on the basis of which order was passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar on 17.02.2024. What is the current status of the property from (2019 to 2024) can only be ascertained after inquiry, which can be made before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gautam Buddh Nagar who has passed the order under Section 83 Cr. P.C., in view of the provisions as contained under Section 84 Cr. P.C. if objection is filed by the applicant before the learned court. Section-84 provides that if any claim is preferred to, or objection made to the attachment of, any property attached under section 83, within six months from the date of such attachment, by any person other than the proclaimed person, on the ground that the claimant or objector has an interest in such property, and that such interest is not liable to attachment under section 83, the claim or objection shall be inquired into, and may be allowed or disallowed in whole or in part; Provided that any claim preferred or objection made within the period allowed by this Sub-Section may, in the event of the death of the claimant or objector, be continued by his legal representative. Claims or objections under Sub-Section (1) may be preferred or made in the Court by which the order of attachment is issued, or, if the claim or objection is in respect of property attached under an order endorsed under Sub-Section (2) of section 83, in the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of the district in which the attachment is made. Every such claim or objection shall be inquired into by the Court in which it is preferred or made.
Decision
In view of the above, this application under Section 482 Cr. P.C. is disposed of with a direction to the applicant to move her claim/objection against the order of attachment before the learned court concerned, who has passed the order dated 17.02.2024 within a period of 30 days from today, which shall be heard and decided as expeditiously as possible in accordance with law, notwithstanding, the limitation of six months. Till disposal of the objection/claim, the operation of the order dated 17.02.2024 shall remain in abeyance if it has not been implemented. Order Date :- 1.8.2024 T.S.