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SALIB @ SHALU @ SALIM vs STATE OF U.P. & ORS.

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 687Decided 8 Aug 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 2344 of 2023
B.R. Gavai · J.B. Pardiwala

Background

The appellant's mother-in-law's family (headed by his father-in-law Haji Iqbal @ Bala) was already facing an FIR for serious offences filed by one Husna. A second FIR was later lodged against unnamed persons alleging that Husna and her family were being threatened over the phone to withdraw that earlier complaint, and the appellant's name surfaced only later, in a witness's supplementary statement, as one of the persons present when the threats were allegedly made. The Allahabad High Court refused to quash this second FIR against him, so he approached the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the appellant was not named in the original FIR at all and appeared for the first time in an improved, later witness statement, and that the story had visibly evolved and changed over successive statements. The Court held that none of the ingredients of the offences invoked (Sections 195A, 386, etc.) were actually made out even taking the allegations at face value, for instance, extortion requires proof that the victim actually parted with property out of fear, which was missing. Applying the well-known guidelines from State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal for quashing FIRs, the Court concluded that this was a case of implicating the appellant merely because he was the hardened accused's son-in-law, and quashed the FIR against him.

Lesson Learnt

Courts will look behind the FIR's face value at how a criminal complaint evolved over time, and being related to an accused person is not by itself a legal basis to be dragged into a criminal case; the ingredients of each offence charged must genuinely be made out on the facts alleged.

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

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