The single judge bench of the Jharkhand High Court held that if any complaint case is filed by any person, the learned Court has got responsibility to examine the facts cautiously and then only proceed in the matter. The said power is required to be exercised with great caution and after suitable judicial application of mind.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that it was alleged in the complaint case that the Petitioners entered into a criminal conspiracy to encash the cheques provided to the Petitioners under the agreement by forging and fabricating bills of huge amounts despite no material having been supplied. After that, they initiated proceedings under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, of 1881. Also, the Petitioners have committed criminal breach of trust, cheating, and forgery for the purpose of cheating and utilizing the same for the personal gains of the Petitioners. The present petition has been filed to quash the entire criminal proceedings pending before the court of learned judicial magistrate.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that if someone files a complaint, the learned court has the duty to carefully examine the facts before deciding whether to proceed further with the case. The said power must be used extremely carefully and only after appropriate judicial application of mind.
The court relied upon the judgment titled Krishna Lal Chawla and others v. State of Uttar Pradesh and another in which the role of lower judiciary in preventing abuse of court process has been considered.
The court noted that the cheque was issued as security pursuant to the financial transaction by M/s New City Agency, and the cheque can’t be considered a worthless piece of paper under every circumstance. The court further relied upon the judgment titled Sripati Singh (Since Deceased) through his son Gaurav Singh v. State of Jharkhand and another.
The court furthermore noted that the present case is a typical example of frivolous litigants abusing the Court process to achieve their mischievous ends.
Based on these considerations, the court was of the opinion that the present case is civil and it is a malicious prosecution against the petitioners. The court quashed the criminal proceedings pending before the learned judicial magistrate.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court allowed the Petition.
Case Title: M/s Century Cement Vs The State of Jharkhand
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Sanjay Kumar Dwivedi
Case No.: Cr.M.P. No. 2924 of 2019
Advocates for the Petitioner: Mr. Indrajit Sinha, Advocate (In all cases) Mr. Ajay Kumar Sah, Advocate Mr. Rishav Kumar, Advocate
Advocates for the State: Mr. Santosh Kumar Shukla, A.P.P. Mr. Shiv Shankar Kumar, Mr. Rajesh Kumar, A.P.P.
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