HC sets aside 29-year-old criminal case against 86-year-old widow

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday struck down criminal proceedings against an 86-year-old widow, who was accused of evading Customs duty on a Mercedes car, owing to inordinate delay in completion of the trial. The case against the widow and her late husband, a businessman, had dragged on for 29 years and the delay was “so gross and so unjust” that the court must exercise its powers, the bench of justices Sarang Kotwal and SM Modak said while dismissing the case.

The businessman Dev Aggarwal, who passed away soon after approaching the high court in 2019, and his now widowed wife, Prabha, faced criminal prosecution at the instance of tax authorities for smuggling in a 1983-300D Mercedes through the air cargo complex in Sahar. The car was registered in Prabha’s name with the Tardeo regional transport office.

The couple’s troubles began in 1986, when the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized the vehicle while it was being imported and cleared through customs using bogus documents showing the payment of customs duty. Dev and Prabha Aggarwal had later pleaded with authorities that they were unaware of procedures surrounding the car’s import and had paid ₹50,000 to a certain Mr Amarjeet for importing the car.

Customs authorities filed criminal proceedings against the couple in 1996, based on findings of their probe. After Dev passed away in 2019, his wife Prabha, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, was left to deal with the ordeal, Haresh Jagtiani, senior advocate who appeared on behalf of the 86-year-old widow, told the court.

The two-judge bench recorded that the investigation in the case had started in 1983, while the complaint was filed in 1996, after 13 long years.

“The journey of the trial from that point onward (was) inordinately long. The trial progressed slower than a snail’s pace,” the court noted in its order. “The dates after that reflect sorry state of affairs.”

The court noted that while ninety hearings were held between 1996 till 2018, onwards from January 5, 2004, prosecution witnesses were absent, as revealed by the roznama which records daily proceedings before the court.

“Even after considering the seriousness of the allegations made in the complaint, we still feel that the delay is so much that merits would not affect the outcome of this petition and save the prosecution.” the court said while setting aside the criminal prosecution against Prabha Aggarwal initiated before a magisterial court in Esplanade.