Delhi HC scraps 17-yr-old attempt to murder case against activist

Justice Amit Mahajan says FIR was a “vengeful counterblast” to Kishwar’s earlier case; notes complainant’s family was already convicted for assault.

The Delhi High Court has quashed a 17-year-old attempt to murder case against academic and activist Madhu Kishwar, calling it a “maliciously motivated counterblast” to a case she had filed earlier against the complainant’s family.

Court says the case stemmed from a “malicious counterblast” to Kishwar’s own FIR over an assault at Sewa Nagar Model Market. (Shutterstock)

The FIR, registered by Delhi Police in 2008, accused Kishwar under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. It stemmed from a complaint by the Basoya family, which alleged that Kishwar had instructed her driver to run them over with a car during a dispute over the alleged allotment of shops in Sewa Nagar Model Market on December 31, 2007. The complainant, Mahipal Basoya’s mother, had also claimed that Kishwar and her associates physically assaulted her and her family, causing serious injuries.

Kishwar approached the court, arguing that the case was fabricated and filed in retaliation for an FIR she had lodged against the complainant and his family for assaulting her and her driver, Sheeshpal, while she was photographing the Sewa Nagar Street Vendors’ Market for a project by her organisation, Manushi.

She pointed out that the trial court had later convicted the complainant and others for rioting, assault, and criminal intimidation in the same incident, and that conviction had attained finality.

In an order dated October 16, justice Amit Mahajan observed that the FIR against Kishwar appeared to have been filed out of vengeance. “The subject FIR appears to be in the nature of defence and a maliciously motivated counterblast to FIR No. 666/2007 for wreaking vengeance upon the petitioner,” the court said.

The court further noted that the trial court’s findings established that the complainant was part of an unlawful assembly that had assaulted Kishwar and her driver. “The allegations made in the subject FIR appear to have been for the reason of counterblast,” the court said.