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Sanjay Kumar Rai v. The State of Uttar Pradesh & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 292Decided 7 May 2021
Criminal Appeal No. 472 of 2021
Justice Surya Kant · Justice Aniruddha Bose

Background

The appellant, a partner in a gas agency, was accused of threatening a journalist who was investigating alleged black-marketing of gas cylinders by the agency. An FIR-type complaint led to a case under Sections 504 and 506 IPC (criminal intimidation). The trial magistrate refused to discharge the appellant, and the Allahabad High Court dismissed his revision petition against that refusal without examining the merits.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that orders framing a charge or refusing discharge are neither purely interlocutory nor final, so a High Court's revisional powers under Section 397 CrPC are not completely barred: the High Court retains inherent jurisdiction to prevent abuse of process or secure the ends of justice in exceptional cases. It found that the High Court here failed to sift through the evidence or consider the fairness of the investigation as required, and had treated the matter too summarily. The Supreme Court set aside the High Court's order and sent the revision petition back for fresh consideration on its merits.

Lesson Learnt

A discharge plea cannot be rejected, and a challenge to that rejection cannot be dismissed, as a mere formality: courts at every stage must genuinely examine the evidence before allowing a criminal case to proceed to trial.

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

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