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Ramveer Upadhyay & Anr. vs State of U.P. & Anr.

Special Leave Petition (Crl.) · 2022 INSC 455Decided 20 Apr 2022
Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 2953 of 2022
Indira Banerjee · A.S. Bopanna

Background

The petitioner, a politician, and his personal assistant were accused by a complainant (a scheduled-caste former BDC member) of casteist abuse and an attempted abduction in September 2017. The complaint led a trial court to take cognizance and issue summons in September 2021. The petitioners approached the Allahabad High Court under Section 482 CrPC seeking to quash the proceedings, arguing the case was a malicious, politically motivated prosecution instigated by the petitioner's long-standing political rival, pointing to a separate, older and unrelated case where a similar complaint by the rival's associates had ended in closure. The High Court dismissed their quashing petition, and they approached the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court declined to quash the proceedings, reiterating settled law (from cases like State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, Inder Mohan Goswami, and others) that the inherent power under Section 482 CrPC must be used sparingly and only where allegations, even taken at face value, are so absurd or legally deficient that no offence is made out, not merely because the accused claims political vendetta. The Court held that the complaint's allegations did disclose an offence under the Atrocities Act, and whether they are true has to be tested at trial, not pre-judged at the quashing stage; the mere possibility that a rival instigated a false complaint is not, by itself, a ground to short-circuit the trial. The SLP was dismissed, though the Court directed that the trial court may consider exempting the ailing petitioner (suffering from advanced-stage lung cancer) from personal appearance if he applies for it.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will not quash a criminal complaint merely on an allegation that it was filed out of political rivalry or malice. Unless the complaint's own allegations are inherently absurd or fail to disclose any offence, the truth of the accusation must be tested through trial, not decided at the threshold.

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

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