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Subhash Sahebrao Deshmukh v. Satish Atmaram Talekar and Others

Criminal Appeal · 2020 INSC 433Decided 18 Jun 2020
Criminal Appeal No. 2183 of 2011
Justice Navin Sinha · Justice Indira Banerjee

Background

The respondent had filed a criminal complaint accusing the appellant of forgery and cheating in connection with a business partnership and a bank recovery proceeding. After a police investigation found the allegations false, the trial Magistrate dismissed the complaint. The respondent challenged that dismissal in a revision before the Additional Sessions Judge, who set the dismissal aside and ordered further inquiry, without giving the appellant (the accused) any opportunity to be heard. The High Court declined to interfere with that order.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that under Section 401(2) CrPC and its own earlier ruling in Manharibhai Muljibhai Kakadia, an accused has a statutory right to be heard whenever a revisional court is asked to reverse a Magistrate's dismissal of a complaint, because restoring the complaint operates to the accused's prejudice. Since the appellant was never given that hearing before the Additional Sessions Judge reinstated the complaint, both the Sessions Court's and High Court's orders were legally unsustainable. The Court set them aside and remanded the matter to the Additional Sessions Judge to rehear the revision afresh after giving the appellant proper notice and passing a reasoned order.

Lesson Learnt

If a court is asked to revive a criminal complaint that was earlier dismissed, the accused has a legal right to be heard before that happens, skipping this step can get the revival order thrown out, even years later.

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

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