The Bombay High Court on Wednesday dismissed a long-standing criminal case against 86-year-old widow Prabha Aggarwal, accused of evading Customs duty on a Mercedes car imported in 1983. The proceedings, which had extended for nearly three decades, were deemed “grossly unjust” by the bench of Justices Sarang Kotwal and SM Modak due to the significant delays in the trial process.
Prabha and her late husband, Dev Aggarwal, a businessman, had been under criminal prosecution by tax authorities for allegedly smuggling a 1983-300D Mercedes through the air cargo complex at Sahar. The vehicle was registered in Prabha’s name with the Tardeo regional transport office. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized the vehicle in 1986 during importation, citing the use of bogus documents for customs duty clearance. The couple had argued that they were unaware of the import procedures and had paid ₹50,000 to a broker for the car’s import.
The legal challenges began in 1996 when Customs authorities initiated criminal proceedings following their investigation. The trial, however, progressed at a snail’s pace. After Dev Aggarwal’s death in 2019, Prabha, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, continued to face the legal battle alone.
During the court proceedings, it was noted that from the start of the investigation in 1983 to the filing of the complaint in 1996, there was already a 13-year delay. The trial itself was marked by further inefficiencies, with ninety hearings held between 1996 and 2018, yet many were stymied by the absence of prosecution witnesses.
Acknowledging the age and health of the defendant, along with the excessive delay in judicial processing, the court concluded that continuing the prosecution would not serve justice. “Even after considering the seriousness of the allegations made in the complaint, we still feel that the delay is so much that merits would not affect the outcome of this petition and save the prosecution,” the bench stated in their order.
