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Rajeeb Kothari v. The State of West Bengal

Criminal Appeal · 2018 INSC 1074Decided 16 Nov 2018
Criminal Appeal No. 1408 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Hemant Gupta

Background

The appellant had been chargesheeted under Sections 406, 420 and 120B IPC (criminal breach of trust, cheating, and criminal conspiracy) in a case pending before a Metropolitan Magistrate in Kolkata. The High Court had declined to quash the proceedings under Section 482 CrPC. By the time the matter reached the Supreme Court, the appellant and the complainant had settled their dispute outside court, and the Supreme Court had earlier stayed the trial proceedings.

Decision Breakdown

The complainant did not appear despite notice, and the State's counsel's claim that the trial was still ongoing could not be accepted given the Court's own prior stay order. Since the parties had settled their dispute, the Court held there was no need for the criminal proceedings to continue, as any trial court would in any case have to take the settlement into account. The appeal was allowed and the proceedings before the Magistrate were quashed.

Lesson Learnt

Where parties to a criminal case (particularly one involving essentially civil/commercial disputes like cheating or breach of trust) settle their differences amicably, courts will often quash the ongoing proceedings rather than let them continue to serve no real purpose.

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

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