Delhi District Court
State vs . Anwar Hussain, Etc. on 25 April, 2019
IN THE COURT OF MS SHEFALI BARNALA TANDON, MM-6 (C), TIS
HAZARI COURT, DELHI.
FIR No.98/2006
U/s. : 419/420/468/471/34 IPC
P.S. : Civil Lines
State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc.
JUDGMENT
1. CIS number of the case : 295513-2016
2. CNR number of the case : DLCT02-000587-2006
3. The date of commission of offence : 21.03.2006
4. The name of the complainant : Mrs. Swapna Chatterjee
5. The name & parentage of accused : (1) Anwar Hussain
persons S/o Sh. Ali Hussain
R/o H.No.370, Gali
No.8, Chauhan Bangar,
New Seelampur, Delhi-
53.
(2) Abjul Subhan
S/o Sh. Noor Mohd.
R/o H.No.K-273, New
Seelampur, Delhi-53.
(3) Noor Ahmed
S/o Sh.Mukhtiar Ahmed
R/o H.No.1264, Gali
No.4, Chauhan Bangar,
Rishi Kadam Marg, New
Seelampur, Delhi.
(4) Mohd. Imran
S/o Sh. Majrool Haque
R/o H.No.632, Gali
No.26, Jafrabad, Delhi-
53.
FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 1/11
PS Civil Lines
6. Offence under which charge has been : U/s 419/420/468/
framed 471/120B IPC
7. The plea of accused : Pleaded not guilty
8. Final order : All four accused are
acquitted of charge U/s
419/420/468/471/120B
IPC
Date of Institution : 01.11.2006
Judgment reserved on : 20.04.2019
Judgment announced on: 25.04.2019
STATEMENT OF THE REASONS FOR THE DECISION :-
1. Briefly stated, the facts of the case as unfolded from the charge-sheet are that on or before 21.03.2006, all accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy with a view of cheating the examination authorities (CBSE) that in place of the actual candidates Mohd. Imran and Noor Ahmed, who were supposed to write the written examination for Class XII Economics, Subhan & Anwar Hussain will appear by impersonating themselves as Mohd. Imran & Noor Ahmed respectively.
Further, in furtherance of their common object, accused Subhan and Anwar Hussain on 21.03.2006, at about 11:30 AM, at room No.12, Bengali Senior School, 22A, Shyam Nath Marg, Delhi, within the jurisdiction of PS Civil Lines, during the examination of Economics, had forged the admit cards of Mohd. Imran & Noor Ahmed by replacing their photographs with that of Subhan & Anwar Hussain respectively and thereby deceived the examination authorities to seek admission in the examination hall and to answer the question paper against the roll number of Mohd. Imran through Subhan & Noor Ahmed through Anwar FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 2/11 PS Civil Lines Hussain. Thereby, all four accused persons committed the offences punishable u/s. 419/420/468/471/120B IPC and accordingly, charge-sheet was filed.
2. The copy of charge-sheet as well as its annexures were supplied to all four accused persons in compliance of Section 207 Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter called as Cr.P.C.) and charge for the offence U/s 419/420/468/471/120B IPC was framed against accused persons namely Subhan, Mohd. Imran, Anwar Hussain & Noor Ahmed by the Ld. Predecessor of the Court vide order dated 14.07.2008, to which they pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
3 The prosecution was given opportunity to prove the accusation against the accused and it examined 10 witnesses in total.
Thereafter, on submission of prosecution, the PE was closed.
4. All four accused persons were examined U/s. 313 Cr.PC, wherein, all the incriminating evidence on record alongwith documents were put to them, which were generally denied by the accused persons. They stated that they have been falsely implicated by the police to prove their false case as they disapproved the cheating, which was going-on at the time of examination with the help of each other i.e. Invigilators, Teachers and Principal of the School.
All four accused persons chose not to lead evidence in their defence.
5. Final arguments heard on behalf of Ld. APP for State and Ld. Counsel for the accused persons. The entire case file has been perused FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 3/11 PS Civil Lines carefully.
6. The accusation against accused persons are that on the alleged date, time and place of incident, all accused persons in furtherance of their common object of cheating the Examination Authorities (CBSE), during the exam of Economics of XII standard, had forged the admit card of Mohd. Imran as well as of Noor Ahmed by replacing the photographs with that of Subhan & Anwar Hussain. Further, accused Subhan and Anwar Hussain got admission in the Examination Centre by impersonating themselves as Mohd. Imran & Noor Ahmed to write the exam in their place.
In order to prove its case, the prosecution has proved on record the present FIR, registered on the basis of complaint made by Smt. Swapna Chatterjee as Ex.PW6/A and endorsement on rukka as Ex.PW6/B, prepared by PW-6 Inspector Sushila Rana, being Duty Officer, which set the criminal machinery into motion.
7. The complainant namely Smt. Swapna Chatterjee has been examined as PW-3, who deposed that on 21.03.2006, she was posted as Principal in Bengali Sr. Secondary School. On that day, the School was conducting CBSE examination of class XII and on that day, the paper of Economics was going to be held of the students of Safiq Memorial School, B.H. Rao, Delhi. During the scrutiny of the documents of candidates, the invigilators namely Mrs. Geeta Basu and Ms. Minati Aditya of the room No.12 got suspicion about the authenticity of two candidates. When the document i.e. admit card of two candidates namely Noor Ahmed and Mohd. Imran were checked, the invigilator found that they being impersonated by Anwar Hussain and Abdul Subhan. It also FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 4/11 PS Civil Lines appeared that both the candidates also forged the signature on the admit cards. Anwar Hussain and Subhan also replaced the photographs of the original candidate by pasting their own photograph on the admit card. Anwar Hussain and Subhan also forged the signature of the original candidates on the attendance sheet. The accused also solved the question paper in the answer sheet. Thereafter, they summoned the Principal of Safiq Memorial School, B.H.Rao and the matter was brought into his notice, who categorically stated that these students/ candidates Anwar Hussain and Abdul Subhan did not belong to their school and were giving exam on behalf of Mohd. Imran and Noor Ahmed, the original students of the school. Both the invigilators also informed regarding the incident to Sh. K.D. Roy, Examination Incharge as well as to the Police. Then, police came in the School and she gave a written complaint to the police, proved as Ex.PW3/A. She proved on record the the original admit card of both the candidates, attendance copy of statement of Invigilator, attendance sheet of both the candidates, statement of Principal of Safiq Memorial School, disclosure statement of both the candidates, as Ex.PW3/B, Ex.PW3/D, Ex.PW3/E, Ex.PW3/F, Ex.PW3/G, Ex.PW3/H and Ex.PW3/I respectively. The said documents were also seized vide memo proved as Ex.PW3/J. She also proved the original answer sheets of both the candidates as Ex.PW3/K and Ex.PW3/L respectively. Police got the case registered, prepared site plan and arrested the accused. Accused persons namely Anwar Hussain and Subhan were corrected identified by her in the Court.
8. However, the invigilator at the Examination Hall namely Ms. Minati Atiya examined as PW-1 turned hostile and during cross- examination by Ld. APP, the witness did not recollect the date, month or year of exam of subject of Economics of class XII. She further did not recollect the roll numbers of the candidates, who were involved in FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 5/11 PS Civil Lines impersonation. She further denied the suggestion that she had never given any statement, proved as Ex.PW1/A to the police. She further not identified the accused persons, who were involved in the impersonation and also denied the suggestion that she had handed over the impersonators to the authorities.
9. PW-2 Sh. K.D. Roy (Examination Incharge of the School) also turned hostile and did not recollect the faces of persons involved in impersonation and also not able to tell their names. He further did not recollect the room number at the Centre, where the impersonators had appeared for the exams.
During cross-examination by Ld. APP, the witness did not recollect the date, month or year of exam of subject of Economics of class XII. He further did not recollect the roll numbers of the candidates, who were involved in impersonation. He also did not recollect whether Smt. Miniati Aditya and other Invigilator had doubted regarding the candidates appearing against roll No.6624819 and 6624822. He further did not recollect despite being suggested that he had on verification found that accused Subhan & Anwar Hussain had impersonated Mohd. Imran & Noor Ahmed in the exam on that day. He further denied that he had never given any such statement proved as Ex.PW2/A to the police.
10. The other Invigilator namely Smt. Geeta Basu examined as PW-4 by prosecution deposed that on 21.03.2006, it was the exam of subject of Economics for Class XII. She was on duty as Invigilator with Miniti at the Bengali Senior Secondary School. Her colleague namely Miniti Aditya started checking the admission cards of the candidates. During query, she got suspicious on the identity of the two candidates and she asked her to check FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 6/11 PS Civil Lines them. In the meantime, police alongwith other officials came to her room and took away the above mentioned two candidates. She failed to identify the accused persons and was declared hostile by the prosecution. She denied the suggestion that IO recorded her statement and that she checked the roll number of candidates/ accused Mohd. Imran and Noor Ahmed, on which, the photographs were found mismatched. She further denied that she made complaint regarding the incident to the then Principal and Examination Incharge. She also denied to have apprehended the accused persons in the Examination Hall and failed to identify them.
11. Sh. Sibghat Ullah, Principal of Shafiq Memorial Senior Secondary School has been examined as PW-5, who deposed that in the year 2006, he issued admit cards to all the students of XII standard of his School, after putting his signature & seal of the school on the photo of the candidate and relevant portion of the admit cards given to the candidates. On 21.03.2004, he had received a call from the Principal office regarding complaint of some candidates. Accordingly, he reached at Bengali Senior Secondary School where he saw police official alongwith Principal & teachers of the aforesaid School and he was also informed that some other persons had appeared in the exam in place of actual candidates. Then, he gave his written statement to the police officer to the effect that Subhan alongwith Anwar Hussain did not belong to their School and they were giving exams of XII standard of Economics paper in place of Noor Ahmed and Mohd. Imran. He proved his statement as Ex.PW3/G. He also proved seal of his school at point B on documents i.e. admit card of roll No.6624822 of Mohd. Imran & 6624819 of candidate Noor Ahmed exhibited as PW3/B and PW3/C respectively. Further, the photograph which was affixed upon the same were removed and subsequently, another photographs were affixed upon it. He further deposed that he did not identify his signatures, put on FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 7/11 PS Civil Lines the photographs, affixed on the documents i.e. Ex.PW3/B & Ex.PW3/C respectively as the said signatures were not clear, which put him doubt whether they were put by him or not. However, he failed to identify the accused persons in the Court.
During his cross-examination by the defence, he admitted that the letter Ex.PW3/G was written on instruction of the complainant and the contents were also written by him under her instructions.
12. PW-7 Sh. Ajay Kalia and PW-8 Sh Shokat Ali proved the original answer book of roll No.6624819 and 6624822 of five subjects i.e. Hindi, English, Pol. Science, Commercial Art and Economics, which were seized vide seizure memo, proved as Ex.PW7/A and Ex.PW8/A respectively They also proved the copy of the answer sheet of rest of the subjects i.e. English Core, History, Pol. Science and Commercial Art for roll No.6624819 already marked as Mark A1 to A4.
13. The Investigating Officer namely Retired SI Pratap Singh has been examined as PW-10, who deposed that on 21.03.2006, on receipt of PCR call vide DD No.16A at about 12:18 PM, he alongwith Ct. Raj Kumar went to spot where they met School Principal namely Swapana Chatterjee, who produced two boys and stated that these two boys were giving exam for other two boys. On inquiry, both the boys disclosed their names as Abdul Subhan and Anwar Hussain. The Principal also stated that these two boys have put their photographs on the admit card of other two students and also put the forged signatures of school Principal. School Principal also stated that on the admit card no. 6624819 of Noor Mohammad, accused Anwar Hussain has pasted his photographs and was giving the exam of Economics subject. On admit card No.6624822 of candidate Imran, accused Subhan was attempting the exam of Economics. The said Principal called the FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 8/11 PS Civil Lines Principal namely Sibhat Ullah Siddiqui of Senior Secondary School, Bara Hindu Rao, who stated that both the abovesaid boys did not belong to his school. Both the accused persons gave in writing that they were giving exam of Economics for Noor Ahmad and Mohd. Imran respectively and their said documents already proved as Ex.PW3/H and Ex.PW3/I respectively. Swapana Chatterjee already proved her complaint as Ex.PW3/A. Then, he prepared rukka on the said complaint and got the FIR registered. He proved the site plan as Ex. PW10/B. Accused Mohd. Anwar produced two currency notes of Rs.500/- (500 X 2 =1000) stating that the said amount was given to him by Noor Mohammad as consideration for attempting the exam on his behalf. He kept the said currency in envelope and sealed the same with the seal of 'PS' and seized the said envelope containing currency vide memo already proved as Ex.PW9/A. He also seized both the admit cards, two confession paper of abovesaid accused persons, attendance sheet number 012343 of Mohd. Imran and 012340 of Noor Ahmad, statement of Invigilator and statement of Principal Sibhat Ullah Siddiqui vide memo which is already proved a Ex. PW3/J. The original admit cards already proved as Ex. PW3/B and Ex. PW3/C, statement of Invigilator proved as Ex.PW3/D, statement of Principal Sibhat Ullah Siddiqui already proved as Ex.PW3/G and confessional statements of both the accused persons are already proved as Ex.PW3/H & Ex.PW3/I respectively. He also proved the specimen signatures and signatures running into 31 pages as Ex. PW10/X-1 (Colly). He also seized the original attendance sheet and answer sheets of both the accused persons already proved as Ex.PW3/E (attendance sheet of Mohd. Imran), Ex.PW3/C (attendance sheet of Noor Mohammad), Ex. PW3/K(answer sheet of Mohd. Imran) and Ex. PW3/L (answer sheet of Noor Mohammad).
He also proved the arrest & personal search memo of accused Anwar Hussain & Abdul Subhan as Ex.PW9/B, Ex.PW9/C, Ex.PW9/D and Ex.PW9/E respectively. He also proved disclosure statement of Abdul FIR No.98/2006 State Vs. Anwar Hussain, etc. Page No. 9/11 PS Civil Lines Subhan and Anwar Hussain as Ex.PW9/G and Ex.PW9/F respectively. Thereafter, he took both the accused persons to make search of Noor Ahmed and Imran Hussain but could not found them. Thereafter, he obtained the copy of answer sheets of previous papers of accused persons after taking requisite permission from CBSE and copy of the same, already on record and marked as A1,A2,A3 and A4 and seized them vide memo already proved as Ex. PW7/A. He also proved the arrest memo of accused Noor and Imran as Ex.PW9/H & Ex.PW9/I, personal search of accused Mohd. Imran and Noor Ahmed as Ex.PW9/J and Ex.PW9/K respectively. He also sent the handwriting and specimen signatures of accused persons, admit cards, answer sheets to FSL, Rohini. Accused Noor Mohd. and Mohd. Imran were correctly identified by him in the Court.
PW-9 ASI Raj Kumar deposed on the same lines as of Investigating Officer as he joined investigation with him.
14. As discussed above, the star witness of prosecution i.e. both the invigilators, who apprehended the accused persons for impersonation, namely Ms. Minati & Smt. Geeta Basu examined as PW-1 & PW-4 have turned totally hostile. Even, the examination Incharge Sh. K.D. Roy and PW-5 have also totally hostile. All these witnesses were material witnesses of the prosecution but they have not supported the prosecution case at all. The Invigilators have denied that they apprehended the accused persons for impersonation in the examination and handed them over to the Principal. Sh. K.D. Roy also denied to have any such knowledge and PW-5 stated to have written letter Ex.PW3/G at the instructions of the complainant only.
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15. The case of prosecution is only supported by the complainant, however, she has not deposed that she was the one who verified the credentials of the candidates and the forgery made on the admit cards. She has only deposed that the invigilators i.e. PW-1 & PW-4 got suspicious after verifying the documents of the candidates and brought them to her, however, the same has been denied by the aforesaid PWs. Hence, the complainant only remains an informant in the present matter.
16. Even the FSL report dated 16.08.2007 on record and admissible u/s. 293 of Cr.PC, states that the questioned documents Q1 to Q5 has been written by the same person of sample writing/ signature marked S1 to S8. Hence, both the signatures/ handwriting on sample as well as questioned documents is of Noor Ahmed, who was the actual candidate.
17. With these facts & circumstances, it can be safely held that the prosecution miserably failed to bring home the guilt of accused persons beyond reasonable doubt. Accordingly, all four accused namely Anwar Hussain, Noor Ahmed, Mohd. Subhan and Mohd. Imran are acquitted of charge U/s 419/420/468/471/120B IPC.
Digitally signed by SHEFALI SHEFALI BARNALA
BARNALA TANDON
Date: 2019.05.02 16:38:33
ANNOUNCED IN THE OPEN TANDON +0530
COURT ON 25.04.2019 (SHEFALI BARNALA TANDON)
MM-06 (C)/TIS HAZARI COURT: DELHI
All pages are duly signed.
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PS Civil Lines