The Supreme Court recently observed that criminal process cannot be permitted to become a weapon of harassment and coercion in disputes concerning title over property and thus on this ground quashed an FIR against a family that had been filed by one of its members.
This judgement came against the background of a property dispute case involving a family over 5.5 acres of ancestral land in Panas Village, near Surat, Gujarat. As per the submission to the court, this land was jointly purchased on June 3, 1957, by the six children of Nemabhai Patel, including Govindbhai Patel (the father of the appellants) and Chhaganbhai Patel, (the father of respondent No. 2).
