Perjury proceedings need not await final disposal where a court has already found a prima facie false affidavit.

Where a court has already recorded a prima facie finding that a party suppressed income in an affidavit filed in a matrimonial maintenance matter, an application to initiate perjury proceedings need not await disposal of the main case. The Karnataka HC held that the request was not premature merely because the substantive proceeding remained pending or because a parallel police investigation concerned other documents. Allegations affecting the purity of judicial proceedings required timely examination, and the application had to be considered on merits at the earliest. The order rejecting the perjury application was set aside and the matter remanded for reconsideration.

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Issues: Whether the application to initiate perjury proceedings could be rejected as premature while the main matrimonial proceeding was pending.

Analysis: The respondent's affidavit in support of maintenance contained a statement of unemployment and lack of income. The trial court itself had recorded a specific finding, based on undisputed income-tax returns, that the respondent had income from the medical profession and had suppressed that fact. In that context, the request to consider initiation of perjury proceedings did not depend on the final result of the main proceeding. The existence of a parallel police investigation concerning other documents did not justify postponing consideration of the perjury request. The court emphasized that allegations affecting the purity of judicial proceedings require timely examination and that discretion must be exercised according to reason and justice.

Conclusion: The rejection of the perjury application as premature was unsustainable. The matter was required to be reconsidered on merits, and the order rejecting the application was set aside with remand.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the court has already recorded a prima facie finding of falsity on an affidavit issue affecting judicial proceedings, an application to initiate perjury action need not await disposal of the substantive case and must be considered on merits at the earliest.

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