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Nisha Priya Bhatia v. Shashi Prabha and Another

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 355Decided 24 Apr 2020
Civil Appeal No. 2365 of 2020
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar · Justice Dinesh Maheshwari

Background

The appellant, an officer of the Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), had filed a sexual harassment complaint in 2007 against two senior officers; an internal Complaints Committee was constituted, with Shashi Prabha and Anjali Pandey among its members. The Committee's report recorded an observation that the appellant's threats of self-harm and conduct suggested a "disturbed state of mind" that "counselling may benefit." The appellant alleged this observation was a fabrication made outside the Committee members' official duties and sought to prosecute Shashi Prabha and Anjali Pandey under Sections 167/44 IPC for forgery, but the competent authority had already declined, by a reasoned order dated 10.2.2012, to grant the sanction under Section 197 Cr.P.C. required to prosecute them, and the trial court and High Court both upheld the refusal to summon the respondents absent such sanction.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that Section 197 Cr.P.C. sanction is a mandatory pre-condition for taking cognizance against public servants for acts connected to their official duty, and exists precisely to shield officials from frivolous prosecutions. Since the appellant had never challenged the competent authority's 10.2.2012 order refusing sanction, that order had attained finality and could not be reopened collaterally through this appeal. The Court also rejected the appellant's reliance on a separate order quashing an unrelated press note and on case law dispensing with sanction for certain IPC offences, holding neither could revive the issue once the sanction refusal stood unchallenged and final. The criminal appeal was accordingly dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

If a decision (such as a refusal of prosecutorial sanction against public servants) is not challenged when made, it becomes final and cannot later be reopened indirectly through a related appeal: a citizen seeking to prosecute officials for acts connected to their duty must challenge an adverse sanction decision promptly, not years later in a different proceeding.

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

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