The Supreme Court reiterated that there is no limitation on quashing criminal proceedings even after a charge sheet has been filed.
A bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Pankaj Mithal made this observation while quashing a domestic cruelty case against the accused, noting that no new allegations emerged post-filing of the charge sheet, and its contents were the same as those in the First Information Report (FIR).
The Court also cited precedents affirming that the High Court retains the authority under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. to quash a criminal case, even after the charge sheet is filed and while a quashing petition is still pending.
“There is no prohibition against quashing of the criminal proceedings even after the charge sheet has been filed,” the Court said.
In Mama Shailesh Chandra v. State of Uttarakhand, the court opined that “even if the charge sheet had been filed, the Court could still examine if offences alleged to have been committed were prima facie made out or not on the basis of the F.I.R., charge sheet and other document”.
The court also referenced the case of Anand Kumar Mohatta vs. State (NCT of Delhi), in which it was determined that the High Court may intervene in criminal proceedings to prevent the abuse of process, even after a charge sheet has been filed, if it concludes that the charge sheet fails to demonstrate any offense against the accused.
“There is nothing in the words of this section which restricts the exercise of the power of the Court to prevent the abuse of process of court or miscarriage of justice only to the stage of the FIR. It is settled principle of law that the High Court can exercise jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC even when the discharge application is pending with the trial court. Indeed, it would be a travesty to hold that proceedings initiated against a person can be interfered with at the stage of FIR but not if it has advanced and the allegations have materialised into a charge-sheet. On the contrary it could be said that the abuse of process caused by FIR stands aggravated if the FIR has taken the form of a charge-sheet after investigation. The power is undoubtedly conferred to prevent abuse of process of power of any court.”, the court observed in Anand Kumar Mohatta’s case.
