IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Reserved on: 22.01.2026 Pronounced on: 13.02.2026 Uploaded on: 13.02.2026 Sandeep Kaur ...Appellant Versus State of Punjab and others ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARSIMRAN SINGH SETHI HON'BLE MR.JUSTICE VIKAS SURI Present: Mr. G.S. Punia, Senior Advocate with Ms. Harveen Kaur, Advocate for the appellant.

Mr. Rahul Rampal, Addl. A.G. Punjab.

Mr. Aman Bansal, Advocate for respondent Nos.5 and 6.

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VIKAS SURI, J.

1. The present intra-court appeal, under Clause X of the Letters Patent, has been filed by the petitioner-appellant being aggrieved by the judgment passed by the learned Single Judge, whereby the writ petition has been dismissed in limine, by concluding that the same is not maintainable.

1.1 The two-fold prayer before the writ Court was for issuance of a mandamus directing re-investigation of case FIR No.128 dated 29.10.2013 registered at Police Station Amloh, District Fatehgarh Sahib, under Section 338 IPC, alleging that the investigation has been done under the influence of respondent Nos.5 and 6; and also for issuance of an appropriate direction awarding damages to the tune of Rs.1 Crore to the petitioner as she has become 100% permanently disabled owing to the wall collapse incident in which she suffered grievous injuries and vertebral fractures.

2. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the writ petition involved two aspects of the matter, one being the criminality of the actions/omissions leading to the incident wherein the appellant suffered 100% disablement and the other with regard to tortuous liability for which the claim for compensation has been raised.

3. Briefly, the appellant is stated to have been a final year student, at the time of the incident, enrolled in B.Sc. course with Desh Bhagat University (respondent No.5) (hereinafter referred to as “the University”), which is managed by Aasra Foundations (Regd. Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860) (respondent No.6).

3.1 On 11.10.2013, the appellant went to the bathroom in the university campus along with her friend Kamal. While her friend was inside the bathroom, she sat right outside on the chair of chowkidaar. On the fateful day, owing to a storm of dust, the wall of the bathroom collapsed and unfortunately, she was trapped beneath the debris, which resulted in fracture of her backbone.

3.2 The appellant was taken to the Civil Hospital, Mandi Gobindgarh, in the bus of the University, for first-aid. Due to her lamentable condition on the account of the bathroom wall having fallen on her, she was referred to Government Medical College & Hospital, Sector 32, Chandigarh and was transported there in an ambulance. It is averred that as nobody was attending to her in the manner required, she was thereafter shifted to Alchemist Hospital, Sector 21, Panchkula. It is also averred that the University Authorities promised to meet all the expenses, however, they deposited Rs.2,25,000/- only up till 18.10.2013 and thereafter, did not meet any expense, medical or otherwise.

3.3 On the statement of the appellant, case FIR No.128 dated 29.10.2013, under Section 338 IPC was registered at Police Station Amloh, District Fatehgarh Sahib. It is alleged that the police authorities did not investigate as to who was negligent regarding the repair and construction of the wall and, for extraneous consideration, only accused one Vishal Sharma, an employee of the respondent University, who was discharged vide order dated 18.04.2017 by the learned trial Court.

4. Learned senior counsel for the appellant submitted that the concerned University Authorities have not been made an accused by the prosecution and therefore, the appellant had sought re-investigation. It is further submitted that on account of the medical condition of the appellant, which has not improved much since the fateful day, she sought for a direction to be awarded damages as she has been rendered 100% disabled on account of negligence