Abuse of process of law – Suppression of material facts and documents – When – Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 – s.138 – Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.200 – Security cheque issued in lieu of the loan allegedly taken by the appellant from the respondent-Credit Co-operative Society, dishonoured – Notice u/s.138 issued by the respondent – Appellant wrote letters seeking loan documents to enable her to reply statutory notice, which was not supplied to her – Respondent filed complaint, process u/s.138 issued – Challenged, High Court dismissed the petition – Interference with:
Held: A litigant who suppresses material facts or makes a false statement cannot seek justice from the court – Respondent filed complaint suppressing the reply and the letter sent by the appellant’s advocate seeking the documents relied upon in the notice – These two documents were also suppressed in the statement on oath u/s.200, CrPC – Respondent made out a false case that the appellant did not reply to the demand notice – If these two letters were disclosed in the complaint, the Magistrate while recording the statement u/s.200, CrPC, could have questioned the respondent on the supply of documents to the appellant and after noticing that notwithstanding service of two letters written by the appellant, relied upon documents were not provided to the appellant, he could have dismissed the complaint – Setting criminal law in motion by suppressing material facts and documents is an abuse of the process of law – Impugned order set aside – Complaint and the order of cognizance are quashed and set aside. [Paras 13, 14, 22]
Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 – s.200 – Examination of complainant – Bhartiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 – s.223 – Complainant’s statement on oath – Object – Duty of Magistrate:
Held: Recording the complainant's statement on oath u/s.200 is not an empty formality – The object of recording the complainant's statement and witnesses, if any, is to ascertain the truth – Magistrate is duty-bound to put questions to the complainant to elicit the truth – The examination is necessary to enable the Court to satisfy itself whether there are sufficient grounds to proceed against the accused – After considering the complaint, the documents produced along with the complaint, and the statements of the complainant and witnesses, if any, the Magistrate has to apply his mind to ascertain whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused – If he is satisfied that there is sufficient ground to proceed against the accused, then he has to issue a process in terms of s.204(1), CrPC. [Para 10]
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Headnotes prepared by: Divya Pandey. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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