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Smt. Rekha Jain and Anr. vs. The State of Uttar Pradesh and Ors.

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 141Decided 3 Feb 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 136 of 2022
M.R. Shah · B.V. Nagarathna

Background

An FIR was registered against six persons, including Rekha Jain and Minakshi Jain, alleging offences of criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery and conspiracy relating to a property that had earlier been attached because another accused, Arun Kumar Maheshwari, had misappropriated depositors' money from a mutual benefit company in 1998-99. The only allegation against Rekha Jain and Minakshi Jain was that they had purchased this property in 2019, long after the alleged misappropriation, and they claimed to be bona fide purchasers with no relation to the main accused. The Allahabad High Court refused to quash the criminal proceedings against them under Section 482 Cr.P.C., so they appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the main allegations in the FIR were against the other co-accused, and that there was no material showing the property was still under attachment, or that any attachment was even registered, at the time the appellants purchased it in 2019. The State's counsel, when specifically asked, could not point to any evidence connecting the appellants to the alleged fraud beyond the bare fact of the purchase. The original complainant himself filed an affidavit stating he had no objection to quashing the case against the appellants once he learned the true facts. The Court held that continuing the prosecution against persons who appeared to be genuine purchasers, with no prima facie case made out against them, amounted to an abuse of the legal process, and it quashed the FIR and chargesheet as against the appellants.

Lesson Learnt

Criminal proceedings cannot be continued against someone merely because they purchased property that was once linked to an alleged fraud by others. Courts will step in under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash a prosecution where there is no genuine evidence tying the accused to the actual wrongdoing.

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

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