HC asks trial court to revisit forgery charges in ‘false husband’ records case

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court set aside a trial court order and a revisional court judgment in a criminal case after holding that lower courts had wrongly confined allegations to cheating, even though the material on record also prima facie indicated possible offences of forgery and harm to reputation. Justice Alok Mahra said the courts below had adopted an unduly narrow approach by limiting the case to section IPC 420, despite allegations involving sections 467, 468 and 469.The case stemmed from an FIR lodged by Bhanu Prakash Tiwari, a resident of Almora, against Swati Tiwari, in which he alleged that she had fraudulently manipulated govt records and falsely shown him as her husband though no marital relationship existed between them. Tiwari lodged the FIR at Ranikhet police station in June 2017 and said he had come to know in Dec 2016 that Swati, a resident of Chilianaula in Ranikhet, had submitted a complaint to SSP, Almora, claiming that she had become acquainted with him in Jan 2014 and that they later began an affair.The FIR said Swati had further claimed that they had married on Dec 1, 2014, and that she was pregnant. Bhanu also alleged, “She recorded my name in official records as the father of her 12-year-old son, who was actually born of her first marriage, by replacing the name of the child’s biological father.” He said this deliberate misrepresentation caused serious prejudice and irreparable damage to his reputation and social standing.After investigation, police filed a charge sheet only under IPC section 420 , and the trial court in May 2022 took cognisance and framed charges only for cheating. Bhanu challenged the order in revision, but Ranikhet additional sessions judge dismissed the plea in Aug 2022, observing that at the stage of framing charges, the court only needed to form a prima facie opinion and could not conduct a mini trial. Before HC, Bhanu relied on documents including a maternity card, Aadhaar card, LIC records and gas connection papers, in which his name was allegedly recorded as Swati’s husband.HC noted that Swati did not file any counter affidavit and that no one appeared on her behalf on the last two hearing dates. Justice Mahra said the allegations were not confined to cheating alone, and observed that repeated and consistent entries across multiple independent documents, if manipulated or falsely procured, could not be treated as an isolated act of deception. The court said such entries indicated “a continuing course of conduct” that could attract offences beyond IPC section 420.The court held that both trial court and revisional court had failed to consider the nature of the allegations and documentary material in the correct perspective, and termed the exercise mechanical due to non-application of mind. It remanded the matter to trial court to reconsider the entire material afresh and pass a reasoned order on framing of charges, including under IPC sections 467, 468 and 469 if made out from the record. HC clarified that it had expressed no opinion on the merits and directed trial court to proceed independently.