The Punjab and Haryana High Court during its recent hearing made it clear that the courts are required to take strong action in cases of perjury to curb unwarranted litigation.
A Division Bench of Justice Augustine George Masih and Justice Alok Jain also made it clear that the fundamental rights enjoyed by the citizens were coupled with obligation and duty to come out with the truth in a court of law. The bench said:
The citizens of the country have a right to lodge complaint for an offence, grievance or hurt caused to them. They are also duty-bound to speak the truth in the court of law.
Case:
The High Court was hearing two petitions challenging an order passed by a trial court for initiating proceedings against witnesses after they did not support the prosecution case, reported The Tribune India.
The trial court had concluded that the witnesses during the investigation had stated a different version by involving all the accused in a crime. But they totally resiled from their earlier version with a mala fide intention to save the accused from the rigors of law after appearing in the witness box before deposing on oath.
Punjab & Haryana High Court
The Bench made it clear that it was not mandatory to afford an opportunity of hearing, while initiating perjury proceeding under Section 340 read with Section 195 of the CrPC.
The Bench asserted the offence allegedly affected the court proceedings. As such, a court was well-empowered to either conduct an inquiry or to get it conducted. It could also form an opinion to initiate the proceedings in presence of enough material on record. There was no statutory requirement or legal obligation cast on the court or the authorities concerned to afford an opportunity of hearing to the would-be accused against whom the magistrate might initiate the prosecution proceedings.
The Bench observed:
It has become a trend these days that FIRs are lodged and the criminal proceedings are initiated. During the investigation, statements are made by the witnesses. However for reasons known best to the witnesses, when they appear for their testimony before the competent court of law, they resile from the statements.
In many cases, the statements (before a magistrate) made under Section 164 of CrPC are also resiled.
READ ORDER | Maharashtra Court Books Woman For Perjury & Filing False Gang Rape Case
The Bench added the witnesses turning hostile ultimately left the court high and dry to decide the cases truthfully as the evidence required was shattered or eroded. The courts were burdened with cases found to be untrue, leading to financial burdened on the tax payers. Besides this, the genuine cases were delayed due to such pendency. While dismissing the plea, the Bench remarked:
The citizens of the country have a right to lodge complaint for an offence, grievance or hurt caused to them. They are also duty-bound to speak the truth in the court of law.
It is high time that the courts strongly take action for making the false statements in the courts of law to protect the citizen from unnecessary/unwanted litigation.
VFMI Take:
- While the case above does not pertain to divorce, perjury is one of the biggest problems that lead to never ending matrimonial battles
- Wives are treated with kid’s gloves and almost every other lie, false statement under oath or even concealing material facts is overlooked by the court
- As a result, men end up paying lakhs of rupees as fees to lawyers over the years to fight their case on merit, while women on the other hand, eitherways get rewarded with alimony in the name of ‘financial security’
- Today, courts are flooded with false cases, because citizens do not fear action against recording false statements
- Particularly, in false rape cases, even when the matter is concluded to be absolutely fake – filed only due to personal vengeance – there is no repercussion on the woman (alleged victim) whatsoever
- Unless, courts set a strong example and create a sense of fear before anyone files a false case, this plague will only allow entry of many more rats creating a dent in the process of fair justice system in India
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"False FIRs Have Become A Trend; High Time Courts Took Strong Action In Perjury Cases": Punjab & Haryana HC
▪️"Citizens have right to lodge complaint for offence, grievance or hurt caused to them. They are also duty-bound to speak truth in court of law"https://t.co/EB3GH7itpV
— Voice For Men India (@voiceformenind) April 6, 2023
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