Judgment comes in Bihar land dispute case after 108 years

PATNA: A district court in Bihar's Bhojpur grabbed headlines for its verdict in a land dispute case, 108 years after it was filed.

On March 11, additional district judge (ADJ) of Arrah, Sweta Singh delivered the judgement in favour of Atul Singh, the fourth-generation successor of Darbari Singh, a member of one of the Rajput families involved in the dispute, who filed the case in the court of law.

A team of lawyers — Ganesh Pandey and Satyendra Narayan Singh of the Arrah court — pursued the case for Atul Singh.

Satyendra Narayan Singh said that the dispute over three acres of land was underway for the last 108 years between two Rajput families of Koilwar. Due to the dispute, the land was attached by the State Government.

In a judgement, ADJ Sweta Singh observed: "It is no accident that consensus of judicial pronouncement holds the right to life protected under Article 21 of the Constitution."

The court had also directed the authority to release the land immediately.

"The case appeared during the British period in 1914 and it was filed by Darbari Singh, the great-grandfather of Atul Singh," Singh said.

"I have learnt that the opposition party may challenge the judgement in higher courts. If it happens, we will fight the case again," he said.

The three-acre plot of land was acquired from a person named Azhar Khan who owned nine acres of land and the two Rajput families, including Darbari Singh, acquired three acres of land from him. The descendant of Khan believes that he migrated to Pakistan during Partition.

Koilwar is located just 40 km from Patna on the Patna-Arrah National Highway-30 on the bank of Sone river. The place is highly rated due to the construction of the Patna-Buxar four-lane road. The current market price of three-acre plot of land is more than Rs 18 crore. (IANS)

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