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Remedies Against False Criminal Complaint sBusinesses in India
are increasingly facing the menace of false criminal complaints
filed with the soleobjective to coerce an out-of-court settlement.
While it may be difficult to prevent a disgruntled
businessassociate from filing false criminal cases to coerce a
settlement, not only can the prosecution be quashed,but the person
behind the suit can be subject to both penal punishment and damages
for maliciousprosecution. By Abhixit Singh and Durgesh Singh, Titus
& Co.
Date: July 2007
Businesses in India face the menace of false and vexatious
criminal complaints which are filed with the soleobjective to
influence and coerce an out-of-court settlement of civil disputes.
Generally disputes arising out of commercial contracts are civil in
nature, such as claim for damages or specific performance.
However,nowadays there is a growing tendency in business circles to
convert purely civil disputes into criminalprosecution.
Typically, litigants convert a case of breach of contract into
criminal prosecution by making a criminalcomplaint for breach of
trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy. Such complaints can lead
to registration of aFirst Information Report by the police and
issuance of summons and warrants of arrests by the court.
Thesecriminal complaints have an added nuisance value for foreign
companies as the accused person has to bepersonally present in
court at each hearing. In the event an accused person is not
present in court despite serviceof summons on him, the court may
issue non-bailable warrants of arrest against that person.
In India, the criminal procedure law is set out by the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). Besidesconferring powers on the
criminal courts to try and adjudicate criminal complaints, the CrPC
also places certainrestraints on the exercise of these powers by
the criminal courts.
The laws in India provide for the following remedies to a person
who has been falsely implicated and
embroiled in criminal complaints:
Quashing the Complaint
The state high courts in India have been given supervisory and
regulatory powers over the conduct of the lowercriminal courts
within their respective territorial jurisdiction, including
inherent powers under section 482 of CrPC. section 482 confers
inherent powers on the state high courts to intervene in any
criminal proceedings, toprevent abuse of the process of the court
and to secure the ends of justice. Faced with a false
criminalcomplaint, a person can file a petition under section 482
of the CrPC with the state high court and seek quashing of the
criminal complaint.
The following principles govern the exercise of the inherent
jurisdiction by the high courts under section 482:
(i) The power is not to be resorted to if there is a specific
provision in the CrPC to redress the grievance of
thepetitioner.(ii) It should be exercised very sparingly to prevent
abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure theend of
justice.(iii) It should not be exercised as against the express bar
of the law engrafted in any other provision of CrPC.
In the landmark case State of Haryana vs. Bhajan Lal [1992 Supp.
(1) SCC 335], a two judge bench of theSupreme Court of India
considered in detail the provisions of section 482 and the power of
the high court toquash criminal proceedings. The Supreme Court
summarized the legal position by laying the followingguidelines to
be followed by high courts in exercise of their inherent powers to
quash a criminal complaint:
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