2025:UHC:3023-DB IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL THE HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE SRI G. NARENDAR AND THE HON’BLE SRI JUSTICE ALOK MAHRA WRIT PETITION (CRIMINAL) NO. 1444 OF 2024 24TH APRIL, 2025 Between: Bhuwan Chandra Pokhariya …… Petitioner and State of Uttarakhand & others …… Respondents Counsel for the petitioner : Mr. Bhuwan Chandra Pokhariya, petitioner party-in-person Counsel for the respondents : Mr. J.S. Virk, learned Deputy Advocate General with Mr. Rakesh Kumar Joshi, learned Brief Holder for State of Uttarakhand The Court made the following: JUDGMENT: (per Hon’ble The Chief Justice Sri G. Narendar) 1. Heard the petitioner party-in-person, and also the learned Deputy Advocate General for the State. 2. The petitioner party-in-person claims to be a social worker and RTI activist. That he perceives a threat to his life and limbs from the respondent Nos. 5 to 14. That he has earlier filed a Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 1471 of 2023, 1 2025:UHC:3023-DB seeking protection from one Mukesh Singh Bora, Chairman of Nainital Milk Union, and Mr. Savin Bansal (IAS). That the said writ petition came to be withdrawn on 30.11.2023 with liberty to file a fresh petition. That the present petition is on account of latest incident of attack mounted on the petitioner, and that he harbours a reasonable apprehension of danger to his life. 3. It is the case of the petitioner that he is a social worker and has raised issues of corruption, misuse of public funds, lack of basic amenities for public and other matters of public interest. That the petitioner has preferred various Public Interest Litigations and intervention applications before the Hon’ble High Court highlighting mass level corruption in mining sector, milk contamination in Uttarakhand Cooperative Dairy Federation and issue of undue benefit given to stone crushers by waiving the heavy fines imposed on them. That the petitioner is an RTI activist and whistleblower against corruption and has also contested election of Zilla Panchayat in 2014 and the Legislative Assembly in 2012. Since last 15 years the petitioner has been obtaining information about the various schemes, and more particularly, the illegal mining and corruption in construction agencies of the State, National Highway scam, OTS scam in mining, illegal promotions in mining department etc. That he has preferred a Writ Petition (PIL) 2 2025:UHC:3023-DB No. 127 of 2023, seeing for protection of villages from floods in the entire State, and that he has sought dredging of the rivers in the State. That some of the issues raised by him before the Court is flouting of the rules by District Magistrates and exempting the fine imposed on illegal mining. That the exemption was done under the garb of one time settlement scheme thus causing revenue loss of more than 200 crores to the State Exchequer. The other issue raised by him, rather his wife, by way of a Writ Petition (M/S) No. 787 of 2020, is the permission granted by the then District Magistrate to conduct mining within 10 Km periphery of Nandhaur Wild Life Sanctuary contrary to the judgments of the NGT. That the petition was filed in the name of his wife Smt. Kamla Pokhariya. That enquiry have been initiated by the Government and despite the passage of 03 years no progress has been made. That he had also sought for an investigation into the corrupt practices of the Nainital Milk Union Lalkuan, and in this regard he has also approached the Hon’ble Chief Minister on 23.08.2023 seeking action against the corrupt office bearers of Nainital Milk Union. 4. We have perused the compilation in Annexure-9, which is an order-sheet in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 186 of 2024, wherein the present petitioner has made application as an interventionist, and has been directed to file the same by 3 2025:UHC:3023-DB way of an affidavit. The next order-sheet is in Writ Petition (PIL) No. 112 of 2024, wherein the petitioner has been directed to delete the respondent Nos. 5 and 6 from array of the parties. We do not see any compliance of the direction of the order dated 09.10.2023, directing him to file an affidavit. 5. One more order-sheet is in Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 707 of 2024, wherein he sought a direction to the DGP Uttarakhand to decide the application dated 15.01.2023. The said writ petition came to be rejected on 19.07.2024 by giving liberty to petitioner to approach the State Police Complaint Authority. Yet again, the petitioner has come up with the instant writ petition seeking for a similar relief. 6. Be that as it may, the present writ petition is premised on a set narration by the petitioner. It is his case that he was traveling on 15.12.2024 and traversing the Chorgaliya- Haldwani road, and when he reached the stretch which is a forest area at Danibangar, his vehicle a Maruti Swift car, was overtaken by a black Scorpio which did not have any registration plates, and that two people got down from the Scorpio and they assaulted the window-pane on the door on the driver seat with a “talwar” (sword) and the windowpane broke into pieces. That the assault on the window was carried out by a sword, and that as there is no connectivity 4 2025:UHC:3023-DB at the said spot, he drove back to the police station and thereafter informed his relative etc. That his wife and daughter, who were occupying the car, went into a shock. That the petitioner was also accompanied by a relative and a companion at the time when the vehicle was assaulted by two unknown persons. That he could not identify the persons as their faces were covered with masks. That he was able to escape from the hands of the attackers as he sensed trouble, and he rushed his car, and the attackers could only give blows on the petitioner’s car resulting in several dents on his car and a broken windowpane. That the petitioner’s wife and daughter shocked by the sudden attack became unconscious, and that he reached Chorgaliya police station and lodged an FIR on 15.12.2024. 7. Yesterday during the course of hearing, we have queried as to whether any attempts were made to photograph either the vehicle or the assailants, to which the petitioner had replied that as there was no signal or connectivity in the said spot, and also in view of the suddenness of the attack, the occupants of the car did not think of either capturing photographs of either the vehicle or the assailants. That they managed to return to the police station with great difficulty. 5 2025:UHC:3023-DB 8. It is common knowledge that the camera in a phone does not depend on the connectivity or signals for operation of the camera installed in the mobile phone. Yesterday when we asked him to show the pictures and the videos on his mobile phone, the petitioner despite the passage of more than 15-20 minutes, and despite the matter being adjourned, did not place the relevant photographs or videos on the phone. 9. Today he produces the same phone and he has opened the WhatsApp chat of a person named Pankaj Bhatt, who he claims forwarded the videos and photographs. On a query, he would submit that the said person is a news reporter. On a query as to how the news reporter came to know about the attack, and as to how the said person was at the police station on time, he would submit that he is not aware but would state that several reporters had already gathered before he could reach the police station. 10. We have examined the photo and also the report submitted by the authorities after an examination of the car. On an examination of the photo it reflects the collection of pieces of glass on the driver’s seat. It is apparent that the assault on the windowpane would not have been by a sword for the window panes are made of tempered glass, and unless excessive force with an object with a larger surface 6 2025:UHC:3023-DB area is used, the chances of the tempered glass breaking into pieces appears to be minimal, and assuming that the driver seat was occupied, the force with which the glass pane is broken to pieces is likely to have the impact of the pieces of the glass striking the face or body of the occupant, and there is every chance that majority of the glass pieces would have impacted the body of the occupant in the driver seat, and would not have collected on the seat. The collection of the entire pieces of the broken windowpane on the driver seat would prima facie suggest that the seat was not occupied when the windowpane was broken. This prima facie opinion of ours forces us to disbelieve the petitioners version. 11. That apart, the opinion of the authority which examined the car is that the dents on the vehicle, one on the rear and one on the window, do not suggest the use of a sword. That apart, the video would show his daughter in an oriented state and the wife sitting in the police station. That apart, there is no material to show that the petitioner has taken up cudgels against the high and mighty, though he has arrayed the high and mighty, including the occupant of the highest executive office of the State, and also several officers. That apart, despite several questions, the petitioner has been narrating the same answers. Despite our 7 2025:UHC:3023-DB repeated intervention to restrain himself to the question that is posed to him, the petitioner has continued with the parroting of his version and made no effort to answer the queries raised by the Court. It is apparent that the petitioner is trying to browbeat the Court, and the complaint rings hollow. In fact, we have also viewed the video said to have been collected by him from the video camera of a hotel. 12. On a query, the learned Deputy Advocate General would submit that the videos were not shared by the hotelier with the petitioner but on the contrary, the video recording of the same was done by the petitioner when the I.O. was viewing the videos recorded in the hard disc. The complaint does not even describe as to what type of clothing the assailants were wearing, and the vehicle that he would show as having used to assault him, would be seen going in the opposite direction, to the direction he was traveling. All these inaccuracies and the gaping hole in his theory of him being followed and attacked ringing hollow, the same does not inspire confidence in this Court. 13. That apart, the petitioner has been filing repeated petitions arraying persons occupying high posts without alleging any specific role or leveling any specific allegations, nor has he placed any material to demonstrate that he has 8 2025:UHC:3023-DB collected incriminating material which would indict any of them. It appears that it is a habit with the petitioner to beat his drum and create noises without there being any substance to back his allegations. The allegations ring hollow because the so called PILs are not premised on any concrete material much less any evidence which would necessitate any of the persons holding high office to threaten him or to harm him. 14. Be that as it may, the FIR having been registered and the same having been investigated, and the police having prepared a final report, and the report having been submitted with the Magistrate court it is open for the petitioner to pursue his remedies before the Magistrate court. The petition apart from repeating bald allegations and not being backed by any specific material, we do not see any cause to retain the petition on board. The allegations, prima facie, do not appear to have any substance and in that regard the present writ petition requires to be rejected, and is, accordingly, rejected. 15. The above observations are for the purposes of this petition only and it is open for the Jurisdictional Court to consider the case on merits without being influenced by the observations made by this Court. 9 2025:UHC:3023-DB 10 16. The Copy of the final report placed before this Court be returned back to the DAG. _____________ G. NARENDAR, C.J. ____________ ALOK MAHRA, J. Dt: 24TH APRIL, 2025 Negi HIMANS HU NEGI Digitally signed by HIMANSHU NEGI DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, 2.5.4.20=bb3b60774012c1ef1dae20d13a af116e73351fdaf6878326386908a7f90d5 757, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND, serialNumber=75BD9D0FB7F4A80990FC 51A722A6BC552D470EB4FD2F88DDF7C1 8DB2A1524A4D, cn=HIMANSHU NEGI Date: 2025.04.29 13:50:00 +05'30'