Reprimanding a house-owner for taking in tenants without verification, a trial court sent him to jail for three months, saying his carelessness could have resulted in "anti-social elements and sometimes terrorists" escaping from the "arm of the law".
The court passed the order earlier this week while sentencing Bhawani Shankar, a resident of Safdarjung Enclave in south Delhi who had kept two tenants in one of his houses in Kotla Mubarakpur without verification, violating the notification issued by the deputy commissioner of police.
"The act of the accused (Shankar) may seem not so serious in the first instance but if the consequences of the violation of the order in the present case are realized then it is clear that there is serious violation of law," metropolitan magistrate Ashok Kumar said.
The court noted that as per the government notification, tenant verification is necessary to avert "grave danger to human life and safety" and to prevent injury to public property.
"It is time to take such notifications seriously and create a deterrent effect for not following the law in such circumstances," the magistrate said.
Police said it was during checks in the area on May 27, 2011, that the lapse was revealed. Cops found that Shankar had kept two men, Gautam Varaha and Hari Pada, as tenants. When the policemen asked Shankar for the verification papers, he could not produce the documents. He was arrested and later released on bail. Both tenants were made prosecution witnesses but turned hostile during the trial and said that they did not know anything about the case.
The court, however, relied on the police witnesses and held that the statement of a hostile witness can be brushed aside if the prosecution is still able to produce credible evidence against the accused. Shankar claimed he was being implicated as he had refused to fulfil the illegal demands made by the policemen. He said the two men at his house were not tenants but came to learn embroidery from 9am to 7pm. The court dismissed Shankar's contentions saying there was no evidence and sentenced him to jail.
Courtesy:
TNN | Jul 3, 2014, 04.11 AM IST
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Man-gets-3-months-jail-for-failing-to-verify-tenants/articleshow/37667415.cms
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