Power to quash criminal proceedings should be used very sparingly: Supreme Court

New Delhi, February 19

The power to quash criminal proceedings should be exercised very sparingly and with circumspection and that too in the rarest of rare cases, the Supreme Court has said.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and S Ravindra Bhat made the observation while quashing a case of forgery and cheating against three individuals in a property dispute.

“This court has cautioned that power to quash criminal proceedings should be exercised very sparingly and with circumspection and that too in the rarest of rare cases; it has specified certain category of cases wherein such power can be exercised for quashing proceedings,” the bench said.

The apex court said that one of the categories where this power can be used is where a criminal proceeding is manifestly mala fide or maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge.

The top court said that in the present case, the complaint has been filed against the accused with an ulterior motive of harassing the appellants.

The apex court said that the magistrate while passing the order under Section 156 (3) of the CrPC has totally failed to consider the law laid down by the highest court.