Supreme Court: Don’t misuse power to quash criminal cases

New Delhi, February 19

Cautioning magistrates against the misuse of power to quash criminal proceedings, the Supreme Court has advised them to be circumspect and use it in the rarest of rare cases where criminal proceedings are manifestly mala fide.

“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,” a Bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice S Ravindra Bhat said.

The Bench quashed a cheating case against three accused in a property dispute on the ground that the magistrate, while passing the order under Section 156(3) of the CrPC, totally failed to consider the law laid down by the highest court.

One of the categories where this power could be used was where a criminal proceeding was 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, it noted.

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

Section 156(3) of the CrPC empowers a magistrate to direct the police to conduct probe only in respect of a cognisable offence.

“In any case, when the complaint was not supported by an affidavit, the magistrate ought not to have entertained the application under Section 156(3) of the CrPC. We are, therefore, of the considered view that continuation of the present proceedings would amount to nothing but an abuse of process of law,” it said.