'Bhagavad Gita Says Realisation Of Guilt Leads To Redemption': Orissa HC Quashes Case Against 'Name-Sake' Who Returned Mistakenly Received Compensation
Live LawThe Orissa High Court has quashed a criminal case against a 'name-sake person', for receiving a compensation amount against the acquisition of land in good faith, whose name, parentage and address resembled another person who was in fact entitled to the amount. As the petitioner returned the received money after knowing about the mistake, the Bench of Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra deemed it proper to discharge him from criminal charges and observed – “Returning money especially when it was received mistakenly or unfairly demonstrates bona fide. In this case, the Bench said, 'good faith' can be read into the conduct of the petitioner as his name, parentage and address unambiguously resembled with that of the informant. Therefore, it held – “In the said scenario, the only inference that could be drawn is that the petitioner has availed the benefit of the award by good faith and subsequently he has returned once he came to know regarding the genuine claim of the complainant.” Consequently, the Court found that the act of the petitioner is protected by Section 79, IPC.
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