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Mahesh Damu Khare vs. The State of Maharashtra

Not available · 2024 INSC 897Decided 26 Nov 2024
Not available
Justice B.V. Nagarathna · Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh

Background

The appellant, a social worker, had helped a woman (the complainant) resolve a family issue in 2012, after which she began seeking regular financial help from him. When he could no longer sustain the assistance and tried to distance himself, she allegedly turned aggressive and threatening, prompting the appellant, his wife, and staff to lodge five separate police complaints against her for harassment and extortion. In apparent retaliation, the complainant then filed an FIR in 2017 alleging that the appellant had raped her repeatedly over several years under a false promise of marriage, along with cheating and criminal intimidation charges. The Bombay High Court refused to quash this FIR, holding that the rape allegation required further investigation.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the sequence of events and found the FIR to be a "counter-blast" filed only after the appellant's side had lodged multiple harassment/extortion complaints against the complainant, suggesting the criminal case was a retaliatory, and not a genuine, complaint. On the facts as they stood, the Court held that no criminal liability could realistically be attached to the appellant, and that allowing the prosecution to continue would amount to an abuse of the process of the court. It quashed the FIR and the criminal proceedings, while clarifying that the complainant would remain free to pursue any other legal remedy available to her.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court can step in to quash criminal proceedings, even at the FIR stage, where the surrounding facts and timeline show the complaint is a retaliatory or vexatious counter-move in a personal dispute rather than a genuine criminal grievance, but such quashing does not shut the door on other lawful remedies for the complainant.

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

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