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Sazid & Ors. vs. The State NCT of Delhi and Anr.

Criminal Miscellaneous Case · CNR No. DLHC010135632026Decided 14 Sept 2026New Delhi Bench
CRL.M.C. 2553/2026CNR: DLHC010135632026
Justice Manoj Jain

Background

All three petitioners sought quashing of a 2021 FIR alleging offences including wrongful confinement and rape, on the ground that the complainant (prosecutrix) had since turned hostile at trial and no longer supported the prosecution's case. Two of the three petitioners had already been discharged by the trial court earlier.

Decision Breakdown

The High Court declined to quash the FIR merely because the complainant turned hostile, holding that this is a factual issue for the trial court to assess at the appropriate stage of the ongoing trial, not a ground for the High Court to short-circuit proceedings. The petition was dismissed, though the Court asked the trial court to expedite the case given the lack of other corroborating witnesses.

Lesson Learnt

A witness turning hostile during trial does not automatically entitle an accused to have the case quashed: that evidentiary question must be resolved by the trial court itself as part of the normal trial process.

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