Observing that an element of civil dispute would always be there in every other criminal case registered on charges of criminal breach of trust and cheating in connection with a transaction of movable or immovable property, the Madras High Court Bench here has held that a criminal case cannot be quashed just because a civil suit is pending before a jurisdictional court in connection with the same dispute.
Justice B. Gokuldas said: “If mere pendency of a civil suit is made a ground for quashing the criminal proceedings, the unscrupulous litigants, apprehending criminal action against them, would be encouraged to frustrate the course of justice and law by filing suits with respect to the documents intended to be used against them after the initiation of criminal proceedings or in anticipation of such proceedings...
“Civil proceedings, as distinguished from the criminal action, have to be adjudicated and concluded by adopting separate yardsticks. The onus of proving the allegations beyond reasonable doubt, in a criminal case, is not applicable in the civil proceedings which can be decided merely on the basis of the probabilities with respect to the acts complained of.”
The order was passed while dismissing a petition filed by A.S. Anwardeen of Dindigul in 2009 to quash a private complaint lodged against him by his brother-in-law for allegedly misappropriating around Rs. 1 crore due to the latter’s wife. The complainant had accused the petitioner of selling a land belonging to his wife for Rs. 65.93 lakh besides misappropriating Rs. 25.54 lakh earned through family business. The petitioner had claimed that the dispute between him and the complainant was a purely civil in nature and no cognisable offence had been made out to initiate criminal proceedings. He also pointed out that Dindigul District Crime Branch police too had not entertained a complaint lodged by his brother-in-law before the institution of the private complaint before a Judicial Magistrate in Dindigul.
Disagreeing with the petitioner’s submissions, the judge said: “In all cases of breach of trust and cheating, in the whole transaction, there is generally some element of civil nature. However, in this case, the allegations were regarding the criminal breach of trust on the basis of power of attorney and acquiring gains on the basis of such power of attorney. The proceedings could not be quashed only because the first respondent had filed a civil suit with respect to the aforesaid power of attorney.
“In a criminal court the allegations made in the complaint have to be established independently... Had the complainant failed to prove the allegations made by him in the complaint, the petitioner was entitled to discharge or acquittal but not otherwise.”
No comments:
Post a Comment