CRM-M19953 of 2009 (O&M) 1
In the High Court for the States of Punjab and Haryana at
Chandigarh.
Decided on Aug 18,2009.
Gurdish Kaur -- Petitioner
vs.
State of Punjab --Respondent.
CORAM:HON’BLE MR.JUSTICE RAKESH KUMAR JAIN
Present: Mr.Sarbjit Singh,Advocate, for the petitioner
Mr.Ranbir singh Rawat,A.A.G.Punjab, for the
respondent/State.
Rakesh Kumar Jain, J:
The petitioner has applied for anticipatory bail
apprehending her arrest in case registered vide FIR No.258 dated
04.7.2009 under Sections 419,420,468,471,120-B IPC at Police Station,
Civil Lines, Amritsar.
The aforesaid FIR has been registered on the complaint of
Himanshu Thapliyal, Assistant Manager Operation Planet, Edu Pvt.
Limited, 101, Greenwood Plaza, Greenwood City, Sector 45, Gurgaon.
In brief, the allegations are that M/S.Planet Edu.Pvt.
Limited is having its Corporate office at Sector 45,Gurgoan and has
its branch office at 41, Feroz Gandhi Market Ludhiana (Punjab) and is
engaged in the business of conducting and facilitating International
CRM-M19953 of 2009 (O&M) 2
English Language Test System (in short,’IELTS’) all over the country,
through its office and test centres on behalf of IDP, IELTS, Australia. It
is further alleged that on 4.7.2009, IELTS conducted a test at Hotel MK
International, Ranjeet Avenue, Amritsar. At that time, persons namely
Shikha Rai, Sidarth Sehgal, Surjit Singh, Shivani Sharma and Sorab
Dinkar Verma came to the registration desk for admission for test and
submitted their photographs and signed the terms and conditions of the
IELTS Examination. They obtained admission tickets for taking the
examination. The officers responsible for taking the examination became
suspicious qua the genuineness of the passports shown to them. After
scrutiny, it was found that the above said persons have tampered with the
passports by putting their own photographs on them in order to take
examination on behalf of some other persons by way of impersonation.
Immediately, the aforesaid persons were apprehended. Their passports
were taken into custody and they were handed over to the police. It was
then found that the aforesaid persons were impersonating the candidates
namely Ms. Gurdish Kaur Gill, Gurvinder Singh, Ranjit Singh ,
Rajwinder Kaur and Navdeep.
It is pertinent to mention here that before coming to this
Court, the petitioner had applied for anticipatory bail before the learned
Addl.Sessions Judge, Amritsar, which was dismissed on 14.7.2009 on
the ground that the petitioners is the beneficiary in the entire game of
cheating as test was being taken by those persons who are apprehended at
the spot by tampering their passports which were naturally handed
over to them by the petitioner.
Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that in order
CRM-M19953 of 2009 (O&M) 3
to take higher education abroad, there is a condition that at the time of
grant of visa to aspirants who wanted to go to Australia, she should go
through IELTS and obtain a particular standard/ marks. It is further
submitted that the company like the complainant have opened various
centres through the country alluring innocent students assuring them that
they shall get them visa by completing all the formalities including
IELTS and shall send them to Australia. It is further submitted that
under this allurement, the agents in Amritsar have taken the amounts
from Rs. 3,00,000/- to Rs.5,00,000/- from individual student and
collected their passports by obtaining signatures on various documents
to complete formalities. It is submitted that the petitioner had paid Rs.
2,00,000/ to the complainant in this regard. It is also submitted that
neither the petitioner was aware of any test to be conducted by the
complainant company nor she handed over the passports to a person
who is alleged to have impersonated. Therefore, it is submitted that no
offence has been committed by the petitioner.
I have heard learned counsel for the parties and have
perused the record.
It is more or less admitted by the petitioner that an amount
of Rs.2,00,000/- was paid by them in order to get all the formalities
completed for the purpose of seeking admission in an educational
institution in Australia. It is un-comprehensible that a person much-
less a student who is desirous of getting admission in Australia is
not aware of the procedure of passing the IELTS. Admittedly, the
petitioner is beneficiary whose passport have been found in possession
of the person who has been arrested in the course of his taking the
CRM-M19953 of 2009 (O&M) 4
examination by impersonation.
Thus, keeping in view the seriousness of the offence and the
fact that the investigation in the matter is required to unearth the big
racket which is in operation, I do not find it to be a fit case for grant of
anticipatory bail. Hence the bail application is hereby dismissed.
Aug 18,2009 (Rakesh Kumar Jain) RR Judge