Documents to bring for a case in Ghaziabad

For every case

Every paper you have, your identity proof, a short written timeline with dates, and the other side's details if you have them.

Copies or originals

Copies or scans to begin. Originals when the case is filed and when evidence is led.

From abroad

Scans on WhatsApp are enough to start. A Power of Attorney follows.

Where to bring them

Chamber 817, District Court Complex, Raj Nagar District Centre (RDC), Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh 201002. Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 9 pm.

Bail after arrest

Regular bail is applied for under Section 480 BNSS before the Magistrate at RDC, then under Section 483 before the Sessions Court and the Allahabad High Court. The hearing turns on the FIR and the case diary; the release turns on the surety papers, which is where families lose days.

• The FIR. Download it from the UP Police citizen portal or the UPCOP app with the police station, FIR number and year.
• The arrest memo and the remand order, or at least the date of arrest, the police station and the name of the investigating officer.
• The accused's identity proof and address proof.
• Any earlier bail order or rejection order in the same case. The next court has to answer what the last one said.
• For two sureties: ID card, address proof, passport-size photographs and proof of property or income for each.
• Medical papers where the accused is ill or infirm, and the birth certificate where the accused is a child under sixteen, because the Magistrate's power in the gravest offences depends on them.
• If the charge sheet is late: the date of arrest, so default bail under Section 187(3) BNSS can be worked out before the charge sheet is filed.

The bail guide explains which court hears which application, and the bail route finder works it out from three questions.

Anticipatory bail

An application under Section 482 BNSS before the Sessions Court, Ghaziabad or the Allahabad High Court, made as soon as there is a real reason to fear arrest in a non-bailable case.

• The FIR naming you, the complaint pending at the police station, or the notice that suggests arrest is coming.
• Any Section 35(3) BNSS notice of appearance, a copy of anything you signed at the police station, and proof that you appeared on the date.
• Details of any earlier case against you, because the court looks at the record.
• Where money is involved: the bank statements and the chats, emails or agreements about the transaction, which show the dispute is civil.
• Your identity proof and address proof, and your passport details if the court is likely to ask you not to leave India.

Quashing an FIR

A petition under Section 528 BNSS in the Allahabad High Court, either because the FIR discloses no offence or because the parties have settled.

• The FIR, the charge sheet if it has been filed, and any summons or order of the trial court.
• Everything that shows the dispute is civil: the agreement, invoices, ledger entries, bank statements, correspondence.
• For quashing on compromise: the signed settlement, and where a mutual divorce is part of it, the Family Court's order, with the complainant's identity proof and willingness to appear.

The categories the High Court applies are set out on the criminal cases page.

Mutual consent divorce

A joint petition under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act at the Family Court, Ghaziabad. The settlement is the document that matters most, because either spouse can withdraw consent until the decree.

• The marriage certificate, or the wedding card and photographs if the marriage was not registered.
• Identity proof and address proof for both spouses, and passport-size photographs.
• The signed settlement: permanent alimony and how it is paid, custody and the visiting schedule, return of stridhan and jewellery with a list, and withdrawal of every pending case between the families.
• Details of any pending case, including a 498A FIR, since it will need a quashing petition after the settlement.
• Anything that fixes the date you separated. The six-month waiver under Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur counts from that date.
• Where one spouse lives abroad: the Power of Attorney, and the spouse's availability for a video appearance.

The steps are on the mutual consent divorce page.

Contested divorce, maintenance and custody

A petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act has to prove a ground, and both sides now file sworn affidavits of income, assets and liabilities under Rajnesh v. Neha (2020).

• Marriage proof as above, and the children's birth certificates.
• Whatever shows the ground: messages, emails, medical papers, police complaints, witnesses' names, or proof of the date the other spouse left.
• For maintenance, on either side: salary slips or business accounts, income tax returns for the last three years, bank statements, and a list of assets and liabilities.
• For custody: the child's school records and anything that shows who has been looking after the child day to day.
• Any domestic violence complaint, protection order or maintenance order already passed, and any pending criminal case between the families.

See the divorce guide and, for a spouse outside India, the NRI divorce page.

Cheque bounce, Section 138

A Section 138 case is won or lost on dates. Bring the papers that prove each date.

If your cheque bounced.

• The original cheque and every return memo from the bank.
• Your bank statement showing the deposit, which also fixes the Ghaziabad branch for jurisdiction.
• The demand notice, with the registered or speed post receipts and tracking reports for every address it went to.
• Whatever shows the debt: the agreement, invoices, ledger entries, or chats and emails about the loan.
• Where a company issued the cheque: the names of the directors or officers who were in charge of its business at the time.

If you received a notice or summons.

• The notice and the complaint, with the envelope or tracking record showing when you received them.
• Proof of any payment made within the 15-day window.
• Anything that shows the cheque was security, that the debt was not enforceable, or that the notice or complaint missed its deadline.

The Section 138 deadline calculator works the dates out from the return memo, and the cheque bounce page covers the case from notice to trial.

Frozen bank account in a cyber case

The representation to the cyber cell cannot be written until the bank gives the freeze details, so start with the bank.

• The bank's official freeze communication: the investigating officer's name and contact, the police station and state, the FIR or complaint number, and the section of law.
• PAN card and Aadhaar card.
• Bank statements for the last 12 to 24 months for all your accounts.
• Income tax returns for the last two to three years.
• Proof that the disputed transaction was genuine: invoices, contracts, chat logs, emails, call records, screenshots of the advertisement or listing, service agreements.
• Business papers where relevant: GST certificate, shop establishment licence, company registration, professional licence.
• The source of any large incoming amount.

Do not return money to the sender and do not travel to the complainant's state before reading the frozen account guide.

Property: a title check before buying

Missing documents are part of what the check is meant to find, so bring whatever the seller has given you.

• Copies of every sale deed in the chain back to the original allottee or owner, not just the latest one.
• For GDA property: the allotment letter, transfer permission, sanctioned map and any dues statement.
• For land: the khatauni, and whether mutation (dakhil kharij) has been done in the seller's name at the tehsil.
• For a flat in a project: the UP RERA registration number.
• Any agreement to sell, and any general power of attorney or will if the property changed hands that way.
• The seller's identity proof.

Property: when there is already a dispute

• Your sale deed or allotment papers, and the chain behind them.
• Proof of possession: electricity bills, property tax receipts, photographs of the plot or house.
• The document you want cancelled, where a forged or fraudulent sale deed is involved, and the FIR if one has been registered.
• Notices or letters from the other side, and any earlier order of a court or revenue officer.
• For agricultural land: the revenue records, since partition and most revenue entry disputes go to the revenue courts.
• For a delayed flat: the builder-buyer agreement, payment receipts and the UP RERA registration.

The property page explains which court hears what, and the court fee calculator estimates the fee on a suit.

A notice from the GDA

• The notice itself, with the envelope or the record of how and when it was served.
• The sanctioned map, the allotment letter and the payment receipts.
• Any RTI reply, including the site inspection report and the approved map the GDA relied on.
• Any representation already filed, with the GDA's receiving stamp.
• Photographs of the construction the notice refers to.

The reply window is usually 15 days, so bring the notice on the day it arrives. See the GDA disputes guide.

If you are outside India

• Scans of everything in the list for your case, sent on WhatsApp.
• A Special Power of Attorney in favour of a trusted person in India, signed and attested at the Indian Embassy, Consulate or a notary in your country, then stamped in India.
• A copy of your passport, and the time zone and hours you can appear by video.

How a case is run from abroad is on the cases for Indians abroad page.

Questions people ask