Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 – ss. 482 and 245(2) – Jurisdiction u/s. 482 to quash the proceedings before the commencement of actual trial – On facts, allegation that respondent no.2 purchased shares in his name and appellant no. 2, and appellants by forging signature of respondent no. 2, illegally procured bonus shares and refused to hand over the original shares in their possession – Criminal complaint by respondent no. 2 against appellants alleging cheating – Dismissed by the Magistrate, however, in Revision matter remanded back – Application u/s. 482 by appellants – Disposed of, by the High Court – Thereafter, appellants filing application u/s. 245(2) for discharge – Rejection of, by the Magistrate holding that sufficient grounds to frame charges u/s. 420, 323 and 504 IPC made out – On appeal, held: Shares right since the date of acquisition have always been in the custody of appellant No.1 and the acquisition was from the funds of appellant No.1 – Complainant merely alleged that the funds came from his bank account but beyond such allegations no material placed on record at any stage – Appellants’ stand in their application u/s.245(2) quite clear that the shares can be sold in the market and the proceeds can be divided between appellant No.2 and respondent No.2 – Appellant no.1 had disowned respondent No.2 and had filed civil proceedings seeking appropriate orders – Thus, the present criminal complaint is an attempt to wreck vengeance against appellants – Criminal complaint is an abuse of the process of court and is to be quashed – Orders passed by the courts below set aside and application for discharge u/s.245(2) allowed – Respondent No.2 to pay Rs.25,000/- to each appellant by way of costs for initiating frivolous litigation – Costs.
Rajiv Thapar v. Madan Lal Kapoor (2013) 3 SCC 330 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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