Allahabad High Court Fines Petitioner ₹25,000 for Filing Forged Documents, Says Fraud Must Be Punished and Deterred
The Allahabad High Court has come down hard on a litigant who filed a writ petition using forged documents, including an Aadhaar Card. The court dismissed the petition with costs of ₹25,000, saying fraud in judicial proceedings must be dealt with firmly — both to punish the wrongdoer and to stop others from doing the same.
The Division Bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Amitabh Kumar Rai said that anyone who takes recourse to fraud deflects the course of judicial proceedings, and that acts done with an oblique motive interfere with the administration of justice. Such persons, the court held, are required to be properly dealt with, not only to punish them for the wrong done, but also to deter others from indulging in similar acts which shake the faith of people in the system of administration of justice.
The case concerned a writ petition filed against the State of U.P. through the Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Revenue. When the matter was taken up, the petitioner's counsel said the petitioner wished to withdraw the petition. The State, however, placed on record instructions stating that the petition had been filed along with forged documents, including an Aadhaar Card. The petitioner, through counsel, did not controvert the allegation of forgery and sought permission to withdraw the petition. The petitioner was not able to counter the State's submissions regarding the Aadhaar Card.
The court observed that the petitioner, seeking to escape the consequences of the proceedings, had sought withdrawal of the writ petition. It deprecated the entire process of “taking a chance” and, upon being unable to succeed, seeking to withdraw the petition, and held that such a prayer for withdrawal could not be countenanced at that stage. It held that the filing of the petition amounted to an abuse of the process of the Court.
The court further observed that the stream of administration of justice has to remain unpolluted so that purity of the court's atmosphere may be given vitality to all the organs of the State. It noted that the legal position is that fraud committed to deceive the court could be contempt as it amounts to interfering with the administration of justice.
Taking into consideration that the petitioner was an old person aged more than 70 years, the court refrained from initiating contempt proceedings. However, as forged and fabricated documents had been filed, the writ petition was dismissed with costs of ₹25,000 upon the petitioner, to be deposited within fifteen days with the Mediation & Conciliation Centre, Lucknow Bench, Lucknow. Proof of payment and an affidavit of compliance are to be furnished to the Senior Registrar. In case of failure to make the payment, the Senior Registrar was directed to recover the costs as arrears of land revenue.
Advocate Shashank Tripathi appeared for the petitioner, while CSC Pankaj Khare appeared for the respondent. The case is titled Gareeba v. State of U.P. & Ors. [Neutral Citation: 2026:AHC-LKO:71652-DB].
Source: Verdictum