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Deepak Kumar Shrivas & Anr. vs. State of Chhattisgarh & Ors.

Not available · 2024 INSC 117Decided 19 Feb 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Satish Chandra Sharma

Background

The appellant had earlier complained to a District Collector that a woman (respondent no. 6) had taken money from him promising to secure a government job for his brother but never delivered. A police enquiry into that complaint found that, in fact, both sides were accusing each other of taking money for arranging jobs, and recommended the complaint be closed since neither side could produce documents or call records. More than a year later, the woman lodged her own FIR against the appellant alleging he had taken Rs. 4 lakh from her (in 2019) for arranging a job for her daughter and failed to deliver. The appellant challenged this FIR before the Chhattisgarh High Court, which dismissed his petition, leading to this appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court quashed the FIR, holding that the entire dispute arose from an unlawful, unenforceable "job-for-money" arrangement between private parties, where a civil recovery suit was not realistically available (particularly since payment was in cash). It found the FIR was lodged with an unexplained three-year delay after the complainant already knew of the appellant's earlier complaint (and had even given her statement in that enquiry), suggesting the FIR was a "counterblast" filed as pressure/coercion to recover money rather than genuine criminal prosecution. The Court held that criminal law should not be used as a tool to recover money arising from mutually tainted, unethical private transactions, and cautioned police to be vigilant against such misuse of FIRs in cases already the subject of a prior, closed enquiry.

Lesson Learnt

Filing an FIR is not a substitute for civil recovery, especially where the underlying transaction (like paying money to "arrange" a government job) is itself unlawful and both parties share blame. Courts will quash criminal proceedings that are really being used to pressure someone into paying up rather than to punish a genuine offence, particularly where there is unexplained delay in lodging the complaint.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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