‘Illegal immigration on rise’: Punjab and Haryana HC upholds conviction of 74-year-old Bathinda woman in fraud case
Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court reduced the sentence of the main accused, citing her age and the delay in trial.
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The case dates back to 1999 when Pritpal Singh and Jagjit Singh paid Rs 15 lakh to Charanjit, a native of Bathinda, through her relative and co-accused Gurlabh Kaur, after being promised Canadian visas.
(File Image)The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently upheld the conviction of a 74-year-old woman in a 25-year-old immigration fraud case, in which two men were duped of Rs 15 lakh under the pretext of being sent to Canada. Affirming the conviction, Justice Jasjit Singh Bedi reduced the sentence of the accused, Charanjit Kaur, from two years of rigorous imprisonment to one year of simple imprisonment, citing her age and the delay in trial.
The case dates back to 1999 when Pritpal Singh and Jagjit Singh paid Rs 15 lakh to Charanjit, a native of Bathinda, through her relative and co-accused Gurlabh Kaur, after being promised Canadian visas. The complainants alleged they were made to wait in Bombay for 36 days with repeated assurances before being abandoned. When the accused failed to return the money, a case was registered in Bathinda in June 2000.
A Phul court convicted both women in 2008 under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy), sentencing them to two years of rigorous imprisonment. The conviction was upheld by a Bathinda sessions court in 2009. Charanjit then filed a revision petition, which remained pending for over 15 years and was finally heard last month.
Dismissing the petition, Justice Bedi said the testimonies of the complainants were “convincing and consistent”, and dismissed the defence’s argument that the liability was civil in nature. “It stands fully proved that the accused…defrauded an amount of Rs 15 lakh by making a false representation,” the court noted.
The judge also rejected arguments regarding delay in registering the First Information Report (FIR) and lack of documentary evidence, observing that “defect in the investigation by itself cannot be a ground for acquittal”, quoting a 2010 Supreme Court ruling in C Muniappan versus the State of Tamil Nadu.
While modifying the sentence, Justice Bedi imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh per charge—totalling Rs 3 lakh—to be paid to the complainants as compensation. “Such offences of attempted illegal immigration are on the rise… Undue sympathy must not be shown,” the judge observed.
Gurlabh, the co-accused, was granted relief in a separate petition after she paid Rs 5 lakh each to the complainants.
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