Team Herald
NEW DELHI: In a new twist in the criminal jurisprudence, the Supreme Court has held that a High Court can quash an FIR even after a charge-sheet is filed in the trial court, holding that this power stems from Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
“There is nothing in the words of this Section which restricts the exercise of the power of the Court to prevent the abuse of process of court or miscarriage of justice only up to the stage of the FIR. It is settled principle of law that the High court can exercise jurisdiction under Section 482 of Cr.P.C even when the discharge application is pending with the trial court.”, the Court has stated.
“Indeed, it would be a travesty to hold that proceedings initiated against a person can be interfered with at the stage of FIR but not if it has advanced, and the allegations have materialized into a charge-sheet. On the contrary it could be said that the abuse of process caused by FIR stands aggravated if the FIR has taken the form of a charge-sheet after investigation,” held the Bench of Justices SA Bobde and L Nageswara Rao. It set aside Delhi High Court dismissing a petition to quash the FIR regarding a dispute between and Ansal Properties and Anand Kumar. The Ansal Properties paid Rs 1 crore to Anand Kumar for development of his properties. The agreement could not be fulfilled as the new building regulations did not allow the development. Ansal Properties registered the FIR when Anand Kumar refused to return Rs 1 crore.
While the appeal against the High Court order was pending before the Supreme Court, a charge-sheet was filed before the Court of Metropolitan Magistrate, Patiala House Court, Delhi against the Appellant and his wife for the offence of criminal breach of trust. The appellants prayed for quashing of charge sheet as well, along with the FIR. It was argued by Ansal that the petition for quashing of FIR was “untenable” since the proceedings had gone past the stage of FIR.
and had resulted in a charge sheet.
Rejecting the argument, the Apex Court held that the High Court erred in dismissing the petition of the appellants filed under Section 482 as it was a fit case for the High Court to exercise its inherent power to quash the FIR.
