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TMI Blog2021 (8) TMI 1372X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... several sins, all us'd in each degree. throng to the bar, crying all "Guilty, guilty!." The following anguish expressed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Swarna Singh vs. State of Punjab (2000) 5 SCC 668 about rampant perjury in courts merit a mention: "Perjury has also become a way of life in the Law Courts. A trial Judge knows that the witness is telling a lie and is going back on his previous statement, yet he does not wish to punish him or even file a complaint against him..." 2. Facts in brief: (i) Petitioner & respondent are an estranged couple; both they are medical practitioners apparently of some standing in the profession; petitioner-husband has instituted M.C.No.1607/2013 in the Court below seeking a decree for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dent, the police are still investigating the matter and therefore the question of perjury is premature; that whether in a case of alleging perjury, action needs to be taken or not, is a matter left to the discretion of the Court concerned before whom the substantive proceedings are pending and therefore, discretionary orders of the kind cannot be subjected to a deeper scrutiny in writ jurisdiction; in support of his case, he banks upon Apex Court decision in B.K. GUPTA VS. DAMODAR H. BAJAJ AND ORS., (2001) 9 SCC 742; so contending he seeks dismissal of writ petition. 4. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and having perused the petition papers, this Court is inclined to grant a limited indulgence in the matter as under and for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... has suppressed the fact that she was earning income..." Thus there is a specific finding as to falsity of statement made on oath by the respondent. (b) Even before this Court, it is not the case of respondent that the copies of Income Tax Returns produced by the petitioner for opposing the claim for maintenance, do not pertain to her or that their contents are untrue/incorrect; when the Court below has recorded a specific finding as to the income of the respondent from the medical profession that too on the basis of undisputed IT Returns for the relevant period; when it has also recorded a specific finding that the respondent has suppressed the fact that she was earning income; that being the position, the application of petitioner for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... elayed; otherwise there is all possibility of the fountain of justice being polluted. d) Under the Indian Penal Code, offences relating to false evidence and against administration of justice are dealt with in Chapter XI; Lord Macaulay as the first Chairman of Law Commission of India in his report has stated: "Giving of false evidence must always be a grave offence. But few points in penal legislation seems to us clearer than that the law ought to make a distinction between that kind of false evidence which produces great evils and that kind of false evidence which produces comparatively slight evils.... As the ordinary punishment for false evidence, we propose imprisonment for a term of not more than seven years, nor less than one ye ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... al provisions to deal with perjury would be a cruel joke with the society unless the courts stop to take an evasive recourse despite proof of the commission of the offence under Chapter XI... If the system is to service, effective action is the need of the time ...". That being the position, the learned trial Judge ought to have considered petitioner's subject application with due seriousness and at the earliest point of time, there being no justification for deferring its consideration since it touched purity of judicial proceedings. e) Lastly, heavy reliance placed by Mr. Jhadhav on the decision of Apex Court in V.K. Gupta's case supra, does not much come to his rescue; there are some observations in the said ruling that recogn ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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