Availing Of Civil Remedy Is Not A Ground To Quash Criminal Proceedings, Reiterates SC [Read Order]

The Supreme Court has reiterated that, even if a civil remedy is availed by a party, he is not precluded from setting in motion the proceedings in criminal law.

The bench comprising of Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Vineet Saran said that, in certain cases the very same set of facts may give rise to remedies in civil as well as in criminal proceedings.

In this case, the criminal proceedings initiated by the complainant was quashed by the High court observing that, since there was a Registered Sale Deed and if it was alleged by the appellant that the Sale Deed was not valid for any reason, it was for him to file a Civil Suit and have the appropriate relief granted in his favour in a manner known to law.  The crux of the complaint was that he was coerced to enter into a transaction by the accused. It was alleged that, no consideration was paid but three post-dated cheques aggregating to Rs.49.38 lakhs were handed over to the complainant and he was threatened that he must encash the cheques.

Disapproving this view, the bench said:

It is thus well settled that in certain cases the very same set of facts may give rise to remedies in civil as well as in criminal proceedings and even if a civil remedy is availed by a party, he is not precluded from setting in motion the proceedings in criminal law.

The bench referred to earlier decisions including R. Kalyani v. Janak C. Mehta, wherein it was held that,  If the allegation discloses a civil dispute, the same by itself may not be a ground to hold that the criminal proceedings should not be allowed to continue.

Case name: K.Jagadish vs. Udaya Kumar GS
Case no.: Cri. Appeal No. 56/2020
Coram: Justices Uday Umesh Lalit and Vineet Saran
Counsel: Adv Jawahar Raja for Appellant and Adv Vidya Sagar for Respondent.

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