Gurugram: A magistrate in Gurugram delivered verdict in the parking lot of the district court complex last week when the accused, a 76-year-old woman, expressed her inability in appearing before him due to a knee surgery.
Judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) Anil Kumar Yadav on 9 November sentenced the accused, Malti Bhatnagar, to nine months of imprisonment and fined her Rs 1,000 for tarnishing the image of the complainant, 86-year-old retired colonel Subhash Chander Talwar.
Bhatnagar was, earlier in the day, held guilty of offence under Section 500 (defamation) of the IPC. Post lunch, when the court was to decide the quantum of the punishment, her counsel said she was sitting in her car in the parking lot as she had undergone a knee surgery and was not in the position to walk to the court. At this, the magistrate walked to the parking lot to pronounce his judgement.
Talwar’s counsel Pooja Aganpal confirmed the development to ThePrint Wednesday. “The JMFC had first sent two court officials to the car parking to ascertain that the woman was actually unable to walk,” she said.
Submitting before the court that Bhatnagar didn’t deserve any leniency, Aganpal said that the accused had rarely appeared in court, and that too only after orders.
Observing that there were no mitigating factors except that Bhatnagar was a senior citizen, the court in its order said, “…in view of her age, the interest of justice will be served only if the accused is sentenced to imprisonment for nine months… She is also awarded a fine of Rs. 1,000.”
The magistrate also issued an order for an interim bail to Bhatnagar till 8 December to allow her to exercise her right to file an appeal before a higher court.
Bhatnagar and Talwar are residents of Ambience Island Lagoon Apartments on NH-8, Gurugram. Their spat started over a parking area, and they have been wrangling since 2015.
In January 2020, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had ordered the quashing of Bhatnagar’s FIR against Talwar.
In another civil defamation suit filed by Talwar against Bhatnagar, a civil court in Gurugram this January directed the woman to pay Rs 10 lakh as damages to the retired army officer.
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Age-old spat
According to Talwar’s criminal complaint filed 2 February, 2016, the builder had sold a portion of parking area in his block to Satish Bhatnagar (husband of the accused). Talwar alleged that in 2015, Satish would park a car in such a way as to block his vehicle, causing inconvenience.
He claimed that the accused posted defamatory messages against him in the colony’s WhatsApp group. “Messages were also exchanged between the complainant and the accused on 18 October wherein the accused used an abusive language… got published defamatory and insulting messages against the complainant in the WhatsApp group of the society with a view to get it circulated to the public at large to defame me,” Talwar said in his criminal complaint.
Then, he sent a legal notice to Bhatnagar on 2 November, 2015.
Bhatnagar did not reply to Talwar’s notice, but lodged a “false FIR” against him 8 November under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage modesty), 354 A (unwelcome and explicit sexual behaviour), 354B (assaults or use of criminal force on any woman with the intention of disrobing), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (sexual harassment by a relative), and 294 (sing, recite or utter any obscene song) of the IPC at women’s Police Station in Sector 51, Gurugram.
As the case was still pending before the Gurugram court, Talwar approached the high court on 11 March, 2016, to quash the FIR. Ruling that a reading of the FIR doesn’t disclose any offence, the high court had quashed the FIR on 29 January, 2020.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)