Relief for Anurag , HPCA case quashed

Vijay Arora

Legal Correspondent

Shimla, August 2

The Himachal Pradesh High Court today quashed the FIR and criminal proceedings pending against BCCI president and BJP MP Anurag Thakur for “unauthorised” possession of government land. 

Quashing the proceedings, Justice Rajiv Sharma observed, “The court has gone through the FIR registered on April, 8, 2014, at the police station in Dharamsala as well as the challan and the charge-sheet. What is stated in the FIR and the challan is that the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) has encroached upon the land of the Education Department by constructing the cricket stadium on some part and also raising a boundary wall. 

“There is neither any averment in the FIR nor in the challan/charge-sheet that the office-bearers of the HPCA have entered upon the property in possession of the Education Department with intent to commit an offence or to intimidate, insult or annoy or having entered legally upon such property, unlawfully remained there with intent to intimidate, insult or annoy any such person. The names of the persons who have been humiliated, intimidated or annoyed have not been mentioned. What has been stated is that the HPCA, Dharamsala, has encroached upon the government land.”

While allowing the petition filed by the HPCA through its president Anurag Thakur, the court further observed: 

“The FIR and challan, on the face of it, do not disclose the commission of offence. The contents of the FIR, even if taken at their face value and accepted in entirety,  do not prima facie constitute any offence or make out a case against the accused. In the charge-sheet, (Kh. No. 460/307 measuring 414-20 sq metres) has been reported to be in the ownership of the state government, which is factually incorrect .”