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Sarabjit Kaur vs. The State of Punjab & Anr. (Criminal Appeal No. 581 of 2023)

Criminal Appeal · 2023 INSC 188Decided 1 Mar 2023
Criminal Appeal No. 581 of 2023
Abhay S. Oka · Rajesh Bindal

Background

The appellant had agreed to sell a plot of land to the complainant's wife under an Agreement to Sell dated 18 November 2013, receiving earnest money, with the sale deed to be registered by an extended deadline of 24 December 2014. When the sale deed was not executed, the complainant filed a series of complaints with the police over nearly two years: the first seeking only a refund and naming only property dealers (not the appellant), and later versions progressively adding cheating allegations against the appellant, despite two earlier complaints on the same facts having already been closed by police as civil in nature. Eventually an FIR under Sections 420, 120-B and 506 IPC was registered against the appellant, which the Punjab and Haryana High Court declined to quash.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the complainant had never issued any notice calling for execution of the sale deed nor filed any civil suit for specific performance or refund, despite nearly three years passing since the deadline. It noted the complainant's story had visibly "improved" over successive complaints: first involving no allegation against the appellant, then escalating to cheating charges only after two prior complaints were closed as civil disputes. The Court reiterated the settled principle that mere breach of contract does not amount to criminal cheating unless fraudulent or dishonest intention is shown at the very inception of the transaction, and held that criminal courts are not a tool for settling civil scores. Concluding the FIR was an abuse of process aimed at pressuring the appellant to return money through criminal proceedings rather than civil remedies, the Court set aside the High Court's order and quashed the FIR and all consequent proceedings.

Lesson Learnt

A failed property transaction or unpaid civil debt should ordinarily be pursued through civil remedies (like a suit for specific performance or recovery); filing repeated, escalating police complaints to convert a contractual dispute into a criminal cheating case is an abuse of process that courts will quash.

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

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