Quashing – Of FIR – Dispute civil in nature – Constitution of India – Art.226 – Writ petition filed by the appellant for quashing of the FIR lodged by the Respondent No.4-complainant for the offence punishable u/ss.60(b), 316(2) and 318(2), BNS, 2023 – High Court directed the parties to go for mediation and also directed the appellant to hand-over a demand draft of Rs.25 Lakh to the Respondent No.4 for the mediation – Interference with:
Held: High Court may either allow the petition saying that no offence is disclosed or may reject the petition saying that no case for quashing is made out – It ought not to make an attempt to help the complainant to recover the amount due and payable by the accused – Approach of High Court, deprecated – In a writ petition filed u/Art.226 of the Constitution or a miscellaneous application filed u/s.482, Cr.PC for quashing of FIR or any other criminal proceedings, High Court ought to look into the averments and the allegations levelled in the FIR along with the other material on record, if any – There was an oral agreement between the parties – Respondent No.4 might have parted with some money in accordance with the oral agreement and it may be that the appellant owes a particular amount to be paid to the Respondent No.4 – However, to constitute an offence of cheating, there has to be something more than prima facie on record to indicate that the intention of the accused was to cheat the complainant right from the inception – Dispute between the parties is of a civil nature – FIR does not disclose any element of criminality – Impugned FIR quashed – Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – s.482. [Paras 9-12, 15, 17]
Abuse of process of law – Dispute between parties civil in nature, recourse to criminal proceedings – Impermissibility: Held: In the present case no civil suit was filed for recovery of money – Money cannot be recovered, more particularly, in a civil dispute between the parties by filing a FIR and seeking the help of the Police – This amounts to abuse of process of law – If the Respondent No.4 has to recover a particular amount, he may file a civil suit or seek any other appropriate remedy available to him in law – He cannot take recourse of criminal proceedings. [Paras 13, 14]
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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