Shri Ganesh Prasad Singh vs The State of Bihar

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT PATNA
CRIMINAL MISCELLANEOUS No.24542 of 2024
CNR No. BRHC010249632024
Arising Out of PS. Case No.-12 Year-2024 Thana- BHAGWANPUR District- Begusarai
======================================================
1. Shri Ganesh Prasad Singh S/o Late Shri Babu Brijdeo Narayan Singh R/o
NH-31, Opp. Railway Malgodown, Gachi tola, P.O. and P.s. - Begusarai,
Distt. - Begusarai, Bihar
2. Shri Kamal Prasad Singh S/o Late Shri Babu Brijdeo Narayan Singh R/o
NH-31, Opp. Railway Malgodown, Gachi tola, P.O. and P.s. - Begusarai,
Distt. - Begusarai, Bihar
... ... Petitioner/s
Versus
1. The State of Bihar
2. Smt. Savita Singh W/o Late Shri Bimal Prasad Singh R/o NH-31, Opp.
Railway Malgodown, Gachi tola, P.O. and P.s. - Begusarai, Distt. -
Begusarai, Bihar
... ... Opposite Party/s
======================================================
Appearance :
For the Petitioner/s : Mr. Amit Shrivastava, Sr. Advocate
Mr. Apurv Harsh, Advocate
Mr. Girish Pandey, Advocate
Mr. Manu Tripurari, Advocate
Mr. Astitva, Advocate
Mr. Akash Ambuj, Advocate
Mr. Siddharth Shankar Singh, Advocate
For the State : Ms. Sharda Kumari, APP
For the O.P. No.2 : Mr. P.K. Shahi, Sr. Advocate
Mr. Rohit Mishra, Advocate
Mr. Ajay Kumar, Advocate
Mr. Mansih Kumar, Advocate
======================================================
CORAM: HONOURABLE JUSTICE SMT. SONI SHRIVASTAVA
ORAL JUDGMENT
Date : 15-10-2026
Heard Mr. Amit Shrivastava, learned Senior
counsel appearing on behalf of petitioners, learned APP for the
State and Mr. P.K. Shahi, learned Senior counsel appearing on
behalf of O.P. No.2.
2. By way of the present application, the petitioners

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have sought for quashing of First Information Report (in short
‘F.I.R’) bearing Bhagwanpur P.S. Case No.12 of 2024, dated
20.01.2024, registered for offences under Sections 420, 419,
467, 468, 471, 120B and 34 of the Indian Penal Code
(hereinafter referrred to as ‘IPC’) and all subsequent
proceedings.
3. The short facts of the case relate to selling of
approximately 5 Bigha and 7 katha of land by the accused
persons without the knowledge and consent of the
informant/O.P. No.2 who were part of the joint family to which
the land in question jointly belonged. It has been alleged that
since there was no partition in the family, no single member or
coparcener had any right to sell, as was done by the accused
persons and the consideration money was also kept wrongfully.
A legal notice, however, was sent to the buyers of the land in
question and an application for cancellation of jamabandi was
also filed before the Circle Officer, Bhagwanpur, but no action
was taken.
4. Mr. Amit Shrivastava, learned Senior counsel
appearing on behalf of petitioners had advanced his arguments
on the merits of the case with his primary contention being that
the written application, forming F.I.R. itself, makes it

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indisputably clear that the present case arises out of a dispute
within the family with regard to the ancestral property. It was
submitted that the petitioners being member of Hindu undivided
family and had bona fide right and title over the land in
question, as such, their act of sale of a portion of the said
property, in no way, constituted any criminal offence, much less
the offences as alleged. A submission has also been made with
regard to the right of a co-sharer to sell his part of the property
in absence of partition, making reference to Section 44 of the
Transfer of Property Act. Moreover, it has also been pointed out
that 1/3rd of the consideration money received has already been
transferred to the informant by the petitioners by way of good
gesture. With regard to the further allegation of wrong usage of
stamp causing loss to the Government revenue, would also find
remedy under Indian Stamp Act before the concerned Authority
and a criminal case would not be the right course. Lastly, it has
also been submitted that it is an admitted fact in the F.I.R. itself
that a civil remedy had already been taken recourse to,
whereafter the present F.I.R. was lodged. Thus, a purely civil
dispute has been given a cloak of criminal offence.
5. On the abovementioned grounds, it had been
submitted that the present F.I.R was lodged only for the purpose

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of recovery of money and criminal law cannot be set into motion
for the aforesaid purpose. Reference to several judicial
pronouncements, including the cases of Delhi Race Club
Limited & Ors. vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr. reported in
2024 (10) SCC 690 , G. Sagar Suri & Anr. vs. State of Uttar
Pradesh & Ors. reported in 2000 (2) SCC 636 , Hemalatha (D)
By Lrs. vs. Tukaram (D) By Lrs. & Ors. [2026 INSC 82] and
Shailesh Kumar Singh vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. [2025
INSC 869] was made in support of the contentions raised. Based
on the aforementioned factual and legal submissions, it was
emphatically contended that the present case squarely falls
within the categories of State of Haryana & Ors. vs. Ch.
Bhajan Lal & Ors. reported in 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335 and the
criminal proceedings, as against the petitioners, are thus
deserves to be quashed.
6. Before proceeding on to the merits of the case,
this Court had enquired about the possibility of an amicable
settlement between the parties and had made an earnest request
to explore such possibility considering the fact that the
contesting parties were part of the same family, the informant
being the wife of full brother (now deceased) of the petitioners.
Though, there was an initial hesitation to the proposal but at a

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subsequent stage, Mr. P.K. Shahi, learned Senior counsel
representing O.P. No.2, pushed forward/mooted the proposal of
working out a settlement and the learned Senior counsels
appearing on behalf of the contesting parties took upon
themselves, the responsibility to explore such possibility and
their sincere efforts brought the desired results.
7. A proposal was made before this Court that the
parties would get their disputes mediated by an independent
Mediator for arriving at a family settlement which would resolve
all issues between them amicably and lead to a closure of all the
existing litigation and would not give rise to any future litigation
between the parties. In this regard, affidavits have been filed on
behalf of both the parties expressing their willingness to resolve
all the disputes concerning joint family properties with the
assistance of a Mediator to be appointed by this Court with
consent of both the parties. Paragraph no.7 of the affidavit filed
on behalf of the petitioners indicates the proposal of the name of
a former Judge of Patna High Court, Hon’ble Mr. Justice Shyam
Kishore Sharma for acting as a Mediator between the parties on
joint consent of both the parties.
8. However, it has been clarified in paragraph no.4
of the affidavit that the aforesaid willingness and consent of the

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petitioners would only be subject to the express condition that
the criminal proceedings arising out of Bhagwanpur P.S. case
No. 12/2024, forming the subject matter of the present
application, be quashed by this Court. The affidavit also
mentions that as an integral part of the proposed amicable
settlement, the O.P. No.2 shall withdraw the Mutation Appeal
pending before the Addl. District Magistrate, Begusarai and
shall not institute any fresh proceedings or litigation against the
petitioners arising out of the same allegations forming subject
matter of Bhagwanpur P.S. case No.12/2024.
9. The issue of withdrawal of mutation appeal
would form a part of the proposed settlement between the
parties and this Court would not go into the intricacies of such
settlement but would confine itself to the consideration of the
quashing of the present criminal proceedings relating to
Bhagwanpur P.S. Case No.12/2024, upon additional ground of
willingness of the parties to resolve the dispute between them
considering it be a civil dispute relating their joint family
property.
10. Resolution of dispute between the parties,
especially, family and business dispute through alternative
dispute redressal mechanism, needs to be the order of the day

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and the Hon’ble Supreme Court by way of several judicial
pronouncements has emphasized on the use of such mechanism
of mediation/arbitration for resolutions of such disputes.
11. Mr. P.K. Shahi, learned Senior counsel for the
O.P. No.2 has made a reference to the case of B.S. Krishna
Murthy & Anr. vs. B.S. Nagaraj & Ors. , repored in AIR 2011
SC 794 , which related to dispute between brothers and it was
recorded that efforts in such cases should be made by the parties
through mediation. Paragraph no.3 of the said judgment contains
passages from Mahatma Gandhi’s Book ‘ My Experiments with
Truth ’. This Court is tempted to quote paragraph nos. 3 and 4 of
the said judgment which are being reproduced hereunder for the
purposes of reiterating the significance of mediation:
3 . In this connection, we would like to quote the
following passages from Mahatma Gandhi's book My
Experiments with Truth:
“I saw that the facts of Dada Abdulla case
made it a very strong indeed, and that the law
was bound to be on his side. But I also saw that
the litigation, if it were persisted in, would ruin
the plaintiff and the defendant, who were
relatives and both belonged to the same city.
No one knew how long the case might go on.
Should it be allowed to continue to be fought
out in court, it might go on indefinitely and to
no advantage of either party. Both, therefore,
desired an immediate termination of the case, if

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possible.
I approached Tyeb Sheth and requested and
advised him to go to arbitration. I
recommended him to see his counsel. I
suggested to him that if an arbitrator
commanding the confidence of both parties
could be appointed, the case would be quickly
finished. The lawyers' fees were so rapidly
mounting up that they were enough to devour
all the resources of the clients, big merchants
as they were. The case occupied so much of
their attention that they had no time left for any
other work. In the meantime mutual ill-will was
steadily increasing. I became disgusted with
the profession. As lawyers the counsel on both
sides were bound to rake up points of law in
support of their own clients. I also saw for the
first time that the winning party never recovers
all the costs incurred. Under the Court Fees
Regulation there was a fixed scale of costs to
be allowed as between party and party, the
actual costs as between attorney and client
being very much higher. This was more than I
could bear. I felt that my duty was to befriend
both parties and bring them together. I strained
every nerve to bring about a compromise. At
last Tyeb Sheth agreed. An arbitrator was
appointed, the case was argued before him, and
Dada Abdulla won.
12. The need for adopting alternative means of
mediation and conciliation for resolution of disputes has been
further elucidated recently in the case of Mahendra Nath Soral

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& Anr. vs. Ravindra Nath Soral & Anr. reported in 2024 SCC
Online SC 765 where dispute related to partition/division
against family members. Paragraph nos.23 and 23.1 are being
quoted hereinbelow :-
“ 23. The case in hand was one of the most
appropriate case in which the Court should have
tried for resolution of dispute by adopting
alternate means namely mediation and
conciliation. This Court in Afcons Infrastructure
Limited v. Cherian Varkey Construction Company
Private Limited 6 had opined that dispute relating
to partition/division amongst family
members/coparceners/co-owners should normally
be settled through Alternative Disputes Redressal
(ADR) Process. Reference can be made to para 28
thereof:
“ 28. All other suits and cases of civil nature in
particular the following categories of cases
(whether pending in civil courts or other special
tribunals/forums) are normally suitable for ADR
processes:
(i) x x x x
(ii) All cases arising from strained or soured
relationships, including
• disputes relating to matrimonial causes,
maintenance, custody of children;
• disputes relating to partition/division among
family members/coparceners/co-owners; and
• disputes relating to partnership among partners.
(iii) x x x x
(iv) x x x x
(v.) x x x x
The above enumeration of “suitable” and

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“unsuitable” categorisation of cases is not
intended to be exhaustive or rigid. They are
illustrative, which can be subjected to just
exceptions or additions by the court/tribunal
exercising its jurisdiction/discretion in referring a
dispute/case to an ADR process.”
23.1 The Courts are required to explore these
methods for amicable settlement of family
disputes.”
13. This court would gainfully refer to a very recent
order passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of R.
Ravindranath vs. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation
& Ors. [2026 SCC Online SC 150] , which although related to a
civil case but considering the long drawn legal battles between
the brothers, the course of mediation was adopted for settlement
of disputes and a former Judge of the Hon’ble Supreme Court
was appointed to act as a Mediator between the parties.
Paragraph nos.4 to 7 are being reproduced hereunder:-
“4. This is a long drawn legal battle between brother
and sisters. Although in the past the parties did try to
reach to an amicable settlement, yet we are informed
that the settlement failed.
5. We are still of the firm view that the parties should
sit, talk and reach to an equitable settlement;
otherwise, this is going to be a long drawn legal
proceedings.
6. We appoint Hon'ble Mr. Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia,
former Judge of this Court, to act as a Mediator

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between the parties.
7. The fees of the learned Mediator along with other
modalities, shall be fixed in consultation with the
parties.
14. The desirability of undertaking of mediation in
criminal trials has also been succinctly dealt with by Hon’ble
Justice S.B. Sinha (former Judge of the Supreme Court of
India) in his article, ‘ Mediation: Constituents, Process and
Merits ’ while stating that one needs to look beyond the process
of Court and arbitration but involve and include within its scope
the power of mediation, either at pre-litigation or at post-
litigation stage, as that shall not only assist the Court in
amicable resolution of disputes, as the flexibility which
mediation provides, is not provided in the Court process or
through arbitration process.
15. Making reference to the case of Salem
Advocates Bar Association, TN vs. Union of India , reported in
(2005) 6 SCC 344 , it has been stated in the paper that mediation
is an informal process in which a neutral third party without the
power to decide or usually to impose a solution, helps the parties
resolve a dispute or plan a transaction. Mediation is voluntary
and non-binding, although the parties may enter into a binding
agreement as a result of mediation. It is not an adjudicative

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process. It is not as if one party wins and other party looses.
Both the parties arrive at an equitable solution, that is why
mediation is said to be a win win situation. The appropriate
cases for mediation have been elucidated as under:
1. Parties want to control the outcome.
2. Communication problem exists between parties on
their lawyers.
3. Personal or emotional barriers prevent settlement.
4. Resolution is more important than vindicating legal
on moral principles.
5. Creative possibilities for settlement exist.
6. Parties have an ongoing or significant past
relationship.
7. Parties have incentive to settle because of time, cost
of litigation, drain on productivity etc.
8. A formidable obstacle to resolution appears to be
the reluctance of the lawyers, not the parties.
16. The Hon’ble Chief Justice of India, Justice
Surya Kant in his speech at the Commonwealth Peace
Mediation Conference 2026 , to explain why mediation often
succeeds where litigation cannot, Hon’ble Justice Surya Kant
referred to the well-known example of the " Orange Quarrel ".
His Lordship narrated the story of two sisters
arguing over a single orange. Attempting to resolve the dispute

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fairly, their mother divided the orange equally between them.
Only afterwards did she discover that one daughter wanted only
the juice while the other needed only the peel for baking.
The problem, he explained, was never the
orange itself. It was the failure to understand why each person
wanted it. His Lordship used the story to demonstrate the
fundamental distinction between litigation and mediation.
As he explained:
"Litigation is built to adjudicate positions.
It asks, who owns the orange, and answers
with a verdict, a half each, an injunction, a
decree. Mediation, on the other hand, poses
an altogether different question. It asks
what each party truly needs."
17. Reverting to the case at hand, the dispute herein
is also essentially a property dispute between the brothers and
their family, not involving any element of criminality. Such a
dispute can be resolved by taking recourse to the alternative
dispute resolution mechanism of mediation by way of a family
arrangement/settlement, which would result into a peaceful
quietus to all present and future litigations between the parties.
Thus, this Court would refrain itself from venturing into the
detailed merits of the case but has no hesitation in holding that

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the present case is a clear manifestation of a civil dispute
relating to ancestral joint family property entailing no element of
criminality. The petitioners being co-sharers of the said property,
their act of sale of a share of the property, in absence of
allegations of impersonation, forging of documents etc. would
not make out any criminal offence against them and would
neither constitute any ingredients of the offences as alleged.
18. However, in the wake of a welcome and a
favourable situation when the contesting parties have expressed
their willingness to being subjected to a process of mediation, by
jointly proposing and consenting to the name of a former Judge
of this Court, Hon’ble Justice Shyam Kishore Sharma, to
mediate between the parties, this Court would proceed to
appoint Hon’ble Justice Shyam Kishore Sharma, a former Judge
of this Court, to act as a Mediator between the contesting parties
for resolution of their disputes, by way of an equitable family
settlement. However, the fees of learned Mediator along with
other modalities, shall be fixed in consultation between the
parties.
19. In view of the aforementioned position besides
the other grounds as urged by the petitioners on merits,
mentioned and discussed in preceding paragraphs, where the

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parties are being relegated to a process of mediation upon their
joint consent and also considering the submission made on
behalf of Mr. P.K. Shahi, learned Senior counsel appearing on
behalf of O.P. No.2 that his clients have no objection to the
present criminal proceedings against the petitioners being
quashed, considering these as additional grounds, this Court
would proceed to set aside the criminal proceedings against the
petitioners. As such, the F.I.R. bearing Bhagwanpur P.S. Case
No.12/2024 and all prosecution arising therefrom is thus
quashed.
20. Accordingly, the present application stands
allowed.
21. Before parting with this order, I would be
failing in my duty, if I do not record my deep sense of
appreciation for the sincere efforts undertaken by the Senior
counsels Mr. P.K. Shahi and Mr. Amit Shrivastava for opting for
the procedure of mediation, which is a great step towards a final
resolution of disputes between the parties so that peace and good
relations are henceforth restored. It is a lesson to learn for the
fellow legal professionals that if conscious and sincere efforts
are made and the right advise is given to the clients by the
lawyers, litigations would not drag on and would rather come to

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a closure, bringing peace and harmony, for all times to come.
Such, should be the concerted endeavor of the lawyers and the
Courts.


(Soni Shrivastava, J)
Harsh/-
AFR/NAFR AFR
CAV DATE NA
Uploading Date 17.10.2026
Transmission Date 17.10.2026