Accused of harassing and tormenting the 86-year-old widow of celebrated Indian sculptor Shiv Singh, a Panchkula-based couple has been summoned by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The elderly woman, a German national, who lives in Mansa Devi Complex, Sector 6, Panchkula, has accused her upstairs neighbours of repeated, brazen acts of harassment that have left her feeling unsafe in her own home.
The bench of justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and justice Deepak Manchanda has directed the neighbours, Sahil Garg and his wife, Shailja Gupta, to appear before the court on August 1.
The petitioner, given her age, has been allowed to join the hearing via video conference. The court has also sought responses from the local police and Panchkula administration.
The complainant, Gisela Singh, had moved into the property, a ground floor apartment, with her son, aged 50, in December 2023.
Her husband, Shiv Singh, an acclaimed Indian sculptor, painter and designer, and one of the founder members of Loose Group of artists and the Punjab Lalit Kala Akademi, had passed away in 2015.
In her plea, she alleged that the couple living on the second floor of the building, Sahil Garg and Shailja Gupta, not only carried out unauthorised construction on the common rooftop but also diverted their bathroom sewage into storm water pipes, causing unbearable stink on her property.
In further acts of harassment, the couple had been throwing children’s used diapers in her verandah, splattering eggs on her car’s windscreen, blocking her entry and exit by parking vehicles in front of her gate, illegally using her water connection to wash their cars, and even verbally abusing her, the plea alleged.
{{/usCountry}}In further acts of harassment, the couple had been throwing children’s used diapers in her verandah, splattering eggs on her car’s windscreen, blocking her entry and exit by parking vehicles in front of her gate, illegally using her water connection to wash their cars, and even verbally abusing her, the plea alleged.
{{/usCountry}}Feeling threatened by the couple, she is even unable to walk freely outside her house, the elderly woman complained.
The harassment had also stalled her plans to set up a gallery in Shiv Singh’s memory in the basement, also owned by her. Resultantly, for nearly a year-and-a-half, his artwork has remained sealed in boxes.
After her initial appeal before the high court, an FIR was registered on April 23 under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including wrongful restraint, mischief, criminal intimidation and insulting the modesty of a woman, but the situation did not improve, she claimed.
Alleging continued harassment and intimidation by the couple, she approached the court again, highlighting inaction by authorities.