After the fact-finding report, Bench orders FIR cancellation

Putting an end to the stand-off between the Chandigarh Administration and High Court lawyers, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday "cancelled/quashed" the FIR which was registered against former Punjab Additional Advocate General (AAG) Rupinder Singh Khosla and 19 lawyers.

The FIR was registered by the Chandigarh Police for thrashing police head constable Ramesh Chand on the High Court premises on February 26 after Chand had stopped Khosla from entering the court premises without the necessary smart card.

As the PIL arising of a suo motu notice taken by the High Court came up for hearing, the division bench comprising Chief Justice Arjan Kumar Sikri and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain referred to the report prepared by the Registrar (Vigilance).

While taking suo motu notice of the "untoward" incident and staying the investigation by the Chandigarh Police into the FIR, the High Court had asked the Registrar (Vigilance) to submit a fact-finding report.

The Registrar, after recording statements of Khosla and Ramesh Chand, said the "matter in controversy has already been resolved between the parties amicably".

The report reads that "both the parties are not willing to agitate the matter further in any way. In the given circumstances, it would not be appropriate to go back to the cause of the incident and the matter in which the alleged unfortunate incident took place".

"If the matter proceeds further in any court of law, there is no likelihood of any success and that would ultimately prove as exercise in futility. Hence, it is recommended that in view of the statement of the parties, the matter deserves to be closed," the report adds.

After going through the report, the bench ordered cancellation of the FIR.

The Bench, however, flatly refused to entertain the application moved by social activist Hemant Goswami who had sought its intervention. Goswami had submitted that no "special privilege" should be given to lawyers.

... contd.

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