A title suit to decide the ownership of a 3-acre land in Koilwar, Bhojpur district of Bihar was finally settled by the local court 108 years after it was filed in 1914.
Additional District and Sessions Court Judge Shweta Singh, who was appointed directly from the bar in August 2018, decided the case in favour of Atul Singh. The land in question was purchased by his great grandfather, Darbari Singh.
Darbari Singh had purchased the said land from the family member of a landowner Nathuni Khan, who passed away in 1911. After his demise, the remaining family members entered into a legal dispute regarding the land ownership due to which a 9-acre plot, which also included the 3-acre that was purchased by Darbari Singh, was seized by the British officials who were ruling the country at that time.
The case dragged on and in 1947, the family members of Nathuni Khan went to Pakistan after the partition.
The case was filed by Darbari Singh after which his son, Shivvrat Narayan Singh, came into the picture. Post the death of Shivvrat, his son, Badri Narayan Singh continued contesting the case. In all, the case saw the appearance of members spanning four generations.
The judge, Shweta Singh (42), had come in for praise from the locals for taking the pain of reading through hundreds of case files, many of which were ravaged by time and moths.
