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Samir Sahay @ Sameer Sahay v. State of Uttar Pradesh

Criminal Appeal · 2017 INSC 812Decided 25 Aug 2017
Criminal Appeal No. 1541 of 2017
Justice A.K. Sikri · Justice Ashok Bhushan

Background

The appellant's father had joined a consultancy company as a branch manager, and several people, including the complainant (respondent No. 2) and his wife, deposited money with the company expecting high returns. When the company ran into financial trouble and could not repay depositors, the complainant filed an FIR alleging cheating under Section 420 IPC against the appellant and his father, even though the appellant himself was never an employee of the company. A trial court rejected the appellant's plea to be discharged from the case, and the Allahabad High Court upheld that rejection, leading to this appeal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the actual FIR and the allegations and found that none of them showed the appellant himself had made any false promise or had any dishonest intention at the time money was deposited: at most, the case rested on an assurance allegedly given by his father, not by him. The Court reiterated the settled legal principle that a mere failure to repay money, without proof of fraudulent or dishonest intention from the very beginning, does not amount to the criminal offence of cheating. Finding that the basic legal ingredients of Section 420 IPC were never made out against the appellant, the Court allowed the appeal, set aside both the trial court's and High Court's orders, and discharged the appellant entirely from the criminal case.

Lesson Learnt

Being unable to repay money, or being associated through a family member with a failed business, does not by itself amount to criminal cheating: the law requires actual proof that the accused made a false promise with dishonest intent at the time it was made, not just that a later promise went unfulfilled.

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

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