HC puts Punjab on notice on Daler Mehndi’s plea against conviction in cheating case

Saurabh Malik

Chandigarh, July 20

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday issued notice of motion to the State of Punjab on a petition filed by Punjabi singer Daler Mehndi challenging his conviction in a cheating case.

Justice Gurvinder Singh Gill of the High Court also issued notice on Mehndi’s plea for placing under suspension the two-year sentence awarded to him by the trial court in the matter.

Mehndi through senior counsel R.S. Cheema, with advocates Shobit Phutela and Arshdeep Singh Cheema, argued that the trial judge’s failure to comprehensively, critically and objectively examine the material on record resulted in manifest injustice.

Among other things, Cheema contended it was unfortunate that the courts below did not minutely examine the evidence due to the voluminous record. Submitting that the petitioner was maliciously targeted for extraneous reasons, including extortion, Cheema added the courts below failed to examine the allegations against him on the touchstone of probabilities even though it was the “only reliable test in a case of one-sided orchestrated oral evidence of deeply interested witnesses”.

Cheema added the judgment also lacked consistency and coherence as the trial Judge failed to take holistic and macro view of the totality of the circumstances on record. “A brief overview of the appellate judgment reveals a failure to closely examine the material and to deal with the evidence in highly superficial manner which is also partisan,” Cheema added.

The notice issued by Justice Gill was accepted by Punjab senior Deputy Advocate-General V.G. Jauhar, while advocate Ranjan Lakhanpal appeared on the complainant’s behalf. Justice Gill took on record the petitioner’s custody certificate before fixing the case for September 15.

An FIR was registered in the matter on September 19, 2003, at Patiala Sadar police station after the complainant alleged that Mehndi and other accused had cheated him of Rs 13 lakh on the pretext of sending him to Canada.

HC puts Punjab on notice on Daler Mehndi’s plea against conviction in cheating case
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