Trial Can Continue After Death Of Complainant In Property Case, Rules Orissa High Court

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court has ruled that the proceedings in a property dispute against the accused can continue with substitution, if the complainant dies during the trial.

The single-judge bench of Justice Sashikanta Mishra pronounced the order while hearing an appeal against the order of a lower court.

As per the case, Baidyanath Mishra was residing in a house that was registered in the name of his wife. After her death, the property devolved upon her children. The children executed a registered general power of attorney in favour of the complainant. Subsequently, the mother of Baidyanath’s daughter-in-law (wife of his son Sanjit Kumar Mishra) allegedly got him evicted from the house, leading Baidyanath to file a complaint in the court.

His eldest son Ranjit Kumar Mishra was cited as witness. While the case was going on, Baidynath died and Ranjit filed a petition seeking to be substituted as the complainant expressing his desire to contest. It was opposed by the accused persons, who took the plea that they are eligible to be discharged following the death of Baidyanath.

But the trial court allowed the petition for substitution and replaced Baidyanath with Ranjit as the complainant. The accused persons challenged it in the High Court in 2011.

The single-judge bench of the High Court dismissed the revision petition. “Notwithstanding absence of a specific provision, the statutory intent of the provisions of the code is not to foreclose the right of a person to continue with prosecution upon the death of the complainant,” TOI quoted Justice Sashikanta Mishra as saying.

“The victim of a crime may die but the crime committed against him does not. Nor does the guilt of the offender get washed away only because the victim is no more,” the court observed.