On Friday, in one of its ruling, the Supreme Court has observed that while holding an inquiry under Section 202 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Magistrate is required to consider:

*whether even a prima facie case is made out or not and

*whether the criminal proceedings initiated are an abuse of process of law or the Court or not and/or

*whether the dispute is purely of Civil nature or not and/or whether the civil dispute is tried to be given a color of criminal dispute or not.

The judgement came out in a case titles as Govind Prasad Kejriwal vs. the State of Bihar

CASE DETAILS

In the present case, an appeal against a High Court order which refused to quash criminal proceedings in a complaint case has been filed.

The Court during the hearing took note of the allegations in the complaint in the form they were. The bench comprising of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice MR Shah opined that initiation of criminal proceedings against the accused is nothing but an abuse of process of law and the Court.

It said that a purely Civil nature dispute is tried to be given a color of Criminal dispute.

The bench observed that neither of the ingredients of Section 32, or Section 341 or Section 379 of the IPC, is satisfied.

The Court in its judgement relied on National Bank of Oman vs. Barakara Abdul Aziz, (2013) 2 SCC 488, it was contended that at the time of inquiry under Section 202 Cr.P.C. and at the time of taking cognizance, the Trial Court is required to hold a limited inquiry to satisfy itself whether there is any prima facie case.

The bench on this observed:

"It cannot be disputed that while holding the inquiry under Section 202 Cr.P.C. the Magistrate is required to take a broad view and a prima facie case. However, even while conducting/holding an inquiry under Section 202 Cr.P.C., the Magistrate is required to consider whether even a prima facie case is made out or not and whether the criminal proceedings initiated are an abuse of process of law or the Court or not and/or whether the dispute is purely of a civil nature or not and/or whether the civil dispute is tried to be given a colour of criminal dispute or not. As observed hereinabove, the dispute between the parties can be said to be purely of a civil nature. Therefore, this is a fit case to quash and set aside the impugned criminal proceedings. "

The judgement has been delivered by Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice MR Shah on 31-01-2020.

Read Judgement Here:

 

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