The Allahabad High Court ordered the swift restoration of an ancestral home to a woman forcibly evicted by police and revenue officials, labeling the eviction as a serious misuse of legal authority by a bench of Justices Gupta and Kumar.
PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad High Court mandated the immediate return of possession of an ancestral house to a woman who had been forcibly evicted by police and revenue officers.
A bench of two judges, Justices Manoj Kumar Gupta and Arun Kumar, described the eviction as a significant abuse of legal process.
They referred the case to the Chief Justice for a potential disciplinary inquiry into the actions of the Civil Judge (Junior Division) in Siddhathnagar, noting undue haste and material irregularities in their conduct.
Additionally, the court imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on a court official, specifically a Peshkar from the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, for the illegal eviction and the emotional distress caused to the petitioner, Soni, and her three minor children.
The court ordered that the official, who is a respondent in the case, be presented to the authorities for potential criminal proceedings.
The case centers around a property co-owned by Soni, her husband, and his younger brother, where Soni operated a beauty salon her only source of income. According to the court’s findings, the respondent had coerced Soni’s husband and brother into signing a house sale deed in his favor, dated February 14, 2024.
On January 13, 2025, the Tehsildar from Tehsil Bansi in District Siddharth Nagar, along with police and the aforementioned court official, arrived at Soni’s residence and instructed her to vacate the premises.
After their attempts to forcibly take possession failed, a lawsuit was filed against Soni, her husband Shyamji, and his brother Premji, seeking a permanent injunction to prevent them from reclaiming the property.
Earlier, On July 18, following an order from the Civil Judge (Junior Division), a substantial police force and revenue department personnel coerced Soni’s arrest and detained her three children ages eight, four, and three in a police vehicle.
The high court ruling stated that,
“We find that the trial court has exceeded its jurisdiction in passing the order dated February 5, 2025, and the Administrative Authorities have equally erred in constituting a revenue team for delivering possession to respondent No. 8 and in thereafter dispossessing the defendants, including the petitioner herein, from the suit property,”.
The court characterized these actions as a blatant misuse of administrative powers and entirely beyond jurisdiction.
The court concluded that,
“The tearing hurry in which the matter has proceeded raises serious doubt about the bona fides of orders passed by the trial court and the actions taken by the Administrative Authorities. The circumstances clearly warrant an inquiry on the administrative side,”
The writ petition was disposed accordingly.
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