Wrong Practice Of Converting Civil Disputes Into Criminal Cases Rampant In Many States : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court today (December 16) expressed concerns over the 'wrong and rampant practice' of converting civil disputes into criminal cases in several states.

The bench of CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was hearing a plea seeking the quashing of charges under Sections 420, 406, 354, 504, 506 I.P.C. filed against the petitioner by the complainant who alleged foul play in the transfer of the sale deed of certain property.

The petitioner here had challenged the order of the Allahabad High Court which refused to quash the charges in the petition under S. 482 CrPC in the prima facie view that "at this stage, it cannot be said that no offence is made out against the applicants."

When the bench asked the counsel for respondent no.2 (original complainant) if any civil suit had been filed on the present facts, the counsel answered that only a criminal case was filed considering that the petitioner had shifted to another residence.

The CJI verbally remarked about the recent trend of wrongly giving civil disputes a criminal colour. CJI told the respondent:

"This is again one of those cases where a civil default/ civil case is converted into a criminal one and this has to be checked very strongly. Please advise your clients otherwise your case may not become barred by limitation also. This is happening in quite some states and it is wrong. It's a wrong practice."

"In fact, it's not 'happening', it is rampant in some states"

It was alleged that, upon the petitioner's inducement, the complainant had transferred Rs. 19 lakhs into the petitioner's account on 'the false promise' that a sale deed would be executed in favour of the complainant.

Previously, the Court had stayed the criminal trial noting that "the complainant defaulted in making the payment and committed a breach of contract. The earlier complaints did not result in registration of any First Information Report as no criminal offence was established."

Today, while extending the interim stay, the bench granted 3 weeks for the counter to be filed by the original complainant.

The matter will now be heard in March 2025.

Case Details : RIKHAB BIRANI vs. THE STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH| SLP(Crl) No. 008592 - / 2024

Criminal Cases Having Overwhelmingly Civil Character Should Be Quashed When Parties Settled Dispute : Supreme Court