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Synopsis

The Supreme Court has said a petitioner seeking quashing of the criminal proceedings cannot be non-suited merely on the ground of filing of a charge sheet.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih emphasised that the High Court is required to examine if a prima facie case was made out or not.

"This Court, time and again, has held that merely filing of charge-sheet is not a ground for refusal to exercise jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC. Even after filing of the charge-sheet, the High Court is expected to take into consideration whether a prima facie case is made out or not," the bench said.

Court was dealing with a challenge made by petitioner Abhishek Mishra against the Allahabad High Court's order of December 4, 2024.

"The High Court has non-suited the petitioner only on the ground that the charge-sheet was filed and as such the petition filed under Section 482 CrPC for quashing does not merit consideration," the court noted.

The bench issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government, returnable within four weeks on Mishra's petition.

By way of an ad interim order, the court also ordered that there shall be stay of further proceedings before the Trial court qua the petitioner in connection with case crime registered at P S Kotwali City, District Gonda, until further orders.

The petitioner before the high court had challenged in the first information report lodged on January 11, 2023, under Section 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 IPC at PS Kotwali district Gonda.

His counsel had claimed the petitioner was only a marginal witness of a will-deed and in fact, the dispute between the parties was primarily civil in nature.

Notably, in December 2024, the apex court set aside a high court's order which dismissed a plea filed under Section 482 CrPC, saying "We are surprised to note that without considering the case of the appellants on merits, the petition has been dismissed as infructuous. We fail to understand how a petition for quashing criminal proceedings becomes infructuous on the ground of filing of a charge sheet. Only on this ground itself, the order deserves to be set aside".

The court also said in a petition for quashing filed either under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 or under Article 226 of the Constitution, a wider challenge is available including a challenge on the ground of abuse of process of law.

In such proceedings, the accused can rely upon documents which are not the part of the charge sheet, it said.

While arguing a case for discharge, on the other hand, the appellants will not be in a position to rely upon any document which is not the part of charge sheet. The ground of abuse of process of law will not be available, the court added.

Case Title: Abhishek Mishra Vs The State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors