Harbhajan Singh v. State Of Punjab

-1- In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh Date of decision: 16.11.2015 Harbhajan Singh ......Petitioner

Versus

State of Punjab ......Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA

Present:

Mr. Nakul Sharma, Advocate for the petitioner.

Mr. J.S.Sekhon, AAG, Punjab.

**** SABINA, J.

Petitioner had faced the trial qua commission of offence punishable under Section 420, 408 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 ('IPC' for short) in FIR No. 14 dated 26.1.2009, registered at Police Station City Ferozepur. Trial Court vide judgment/order dated 3.5.2014 ordered the conviction and sentence of the petitioner under Section 420, 408 IPC. Aggrieved against the said judgment/order of his conviction and sentence, petitioner preferred an appeal and the same was dismissed by the Appellate Court vide order dated 14.7.2005. Hence, the present petition by the petitioner.

Prosecution story, in brief, is that petitioner was working as a milk vendor with the complainant Gaushala. Petitioner had misappropriated ` 34,422/- from January 2008 to September 2008 as he had taken money from the customers but had failed to deposit the same with the Gaushala after the sale of

-2milk. Petitioner had also taken ` 11,895/- from the complainant Gaushala by way of advance but had failed to return the said amount and had rather absented with effect from 3.10.2008. The detail of the amount which had not been deposited by the petitioner, as reproduced in para 2 of the judgment passed by the Appellate Court, is as under:- Sr.

No.

Account page No.

Name of the customer Amount Period 1.

Sh. Madan Lal 2541.00 04/2008 to 09/2008 2.

Sh. Jasbir Singh 495.00 09/2008 3.

Sh. Hawal Lal Mehta 459.00 09/2008 4.

Sh. Chander Mohan Handa 4149.00 05/2008 to 08/2008 5.

Sh. Raju 3070.00 04/2008 to 09/2008 6.

Sh. Ashok Sehgal 2585.00 06/2008 to 08/2008 7.

Sh. Subhash Chopra 4171.00 04/2008 to 09/2008 8.

Sh. Harvinder Singh 5432.00 01/2008 to 08/2008 9.

Sh. Manoj Kumar 2285.00 06/2008 to 09/2008 10.

Sh. Hari Ram Aggarwal 1134.00 09/2008 11.

Sh. Rajesh Kumar Julka 3287.00 04/2008 to 09/2008 12.

Sh. Vikas Chopra 272.00 04/2008 13.

Sh. Tirath Ram 1641.00 05/2008 to 06/2008 14.

Sh. Parveen Dhawan 486.00 09/2008 15.

Sh. Om Parkash 213.00 04/2008 16.

Sh. Sonu 1224.00 04/2008 to 07/2008 17.

Sh. Ashok Kumar 621.00 08/2008 18.

Sh. Sonu Wadhawa 357.00 04/2008 to 07/2008 Total 34,422.00 Learned counsel for the petitioner during the course of arguments has not challenged the conviction of the petitioner under Section 420, 408 IPC but has submitted that sentence qua imprisonment of the petitioner be reduced to the period already undergone by him.

-3Learned State counsel, on the other hand, has opposed the petition and has submitted that the petitioner had misappropriated funds of the complainant Gaushala and has failed to return the same till date.

In the present case, allegations levelled against the petitioner are serious in nature. As per the prosecution case, petitioner had taken money from the customers of Gaushala after supplying milk to them but had failed to deposit the said amount with the complainant Gaushala. In this regard, prosecution had examined customers as PW-1 to PW-7 and PW-10 to PW-12. The said customers had duly supported the prosecution case. Thus, prosecution had been successful in proving its case that the petitioner had misappropriated the funds belonging to the complainant Gaushala. Petitioner has failed to deposit the amount in question with the complainant Gaushala. In these circumstances, no ground for reduction of sentence qua imprisonment of the petitioner is made out.

Dismissed.

(SABINA) JUDGE November 16, 2015 Gurpreet