Saurabh Malik
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, November 27

Eight years after a relative of an ex-MLA was booked for forged MLA sticker, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to quash the FIR against the former legislator and her kin. The Bench ruled that her statements on scanning MLA stickers and using these on other vehicles, prima facie, indicated “some misuse”.

Parmod Arora and the ex-legislator had moved the court for quashing FIR registered on July 18, 2012, at airport police station in Amritsar for cheating, forgery and other offences under the IPC.

Appearing before Justice Sanjay Kumar’s Bench, their counsel contended Amritsar Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) had refused to accept the cancellation report filed by the police, requiring the petitioners to face trial.

Justice Kumar observed the then MLA’s daughter was married to Arora’s son. The FIR said a vehicle driven by Arora with MLA sticker affixed on the windshield was stopped at a barrier on the airport road by Inspector Kuldeep Singh, who took possession of the scanned sticker after asking him to remove it.

He observed apparently the police filed a cancellation after inquiry, but the CJM sent the case back for further investigation. However, another cancellation report was submitted.

Present before the trial court, inspector Kuldeep Singh stated he did not agree with the cancellation report. In a separate statement, the inspector said he had done his duty honestly and had caught the petitioner driving the vehicle while carrying the sticker’s scanned copy.

The CJM also took note of the fact that the then MLA had made a statement during the inquiry that two car stickers were issued to her as she was a member of the Legislative Assembly. She kept the scanned copies with her and put them on other cars also. She had put the sticker’s scanned copy on Arora’s car. When the car was returned, her driver forgot to remove the sticker though he had taken it off the windshield.

Justice Kumar observed the inspector’s categorical statement was that the vehicle was bearing the sticker on the windshield. The then MLA herself admitted during the inquiry that the sticker was not to be used for this car and was allotted for her car. “As to whether such misuse would amount to commission of offences alleged requires a full-fledged trial and adjudication by the trial court. At this stage, no grounds are made out to quash either the FIR or the summoning order passed therein,” he asserted.