2014 (10) TMI 628

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...., 411, 417, 418, 420, 467, 458 and 477 IPC. According to the said complaint, the complainant was holding a Bank Account in the Ghaziabad District Co-operative Bank, Maliwada, Ghaziabad where the appellant was the Branch Manager. It was alleged in the complaint that taking advantage of the innocence of the complainant and his brother, the accused, mischievously obtained their signatures on blank cheques and committed theft of their hand bag in which the signed cheque book was kept. When they came to know that their bag containing signed cheques and other papers was missing, not knowing the misdeed of the accused, a search has been undertaken for the lost bag containing signed cheques and also lodged a written report on 17th May, 2004 at Sihani Gate Police Station to that effect. The Bank was also informed in writing on 17th May, 2004 itself that duly signed cheque book of Account No. 1132 has been lost, hence no payment on the lost cheques be made to any person and all those cheques may be cancelled (Annexure P/1). It was further stated by the complainant that when he received a notice dated 6th October, 2004 under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act from Neelam Rani (co-a....

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....llant moved the High Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the proceedings against him. It was the case of the appellant that he came to know about the criminal complaint only when the non-bailable warrant has been issued against him because from August 2004 to January 2007, during which period the proceedings in the criminal complaint were going on, he was posted at Dhaulana Branch, therefore, the summons were never served upon him. But, by the impugned order dated 6th November, 2012 the High Court refused to quash the criminal proceedings against the appellant. 7. Before us, the main contention of the learned senior counsel for the appellant is that the appellant has nothing to do with the alleged offence and his name was unnecessarily dragged into the criminal complaint. When Cheque No. 083697 was presented in the Bank on 2nd August, 2004, it was not cleared by the Bank in view of the written instruction given by the complainant and no loss was caused to the complainant at the hands of the appellant. Afterwards, the appellant was transferred from Maliwara Branch to Dhaulana Branch on 21st August, 2004 and he was again transferred to Maliwara Branch in January 2007 where he r....

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....Court to interfere with the order of the High Court. 9. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and after perusing the entire material available on record, including the complaint, now the issue for consideration before us is whether in the light of the letter dated 17th May, 2004 (Annexure P/1), the appellant has made out any case to quash the proceedings in Complaint Case No. 2397/2002 under Sections 34, 379, 411, 417, 418, 467, 468, 471 and 477 IPC on the file of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ghaziabad. 10. Before we deal with the respective contentions advanced on either side, we deem it appropriate to have thorough look at Section 482 Cr.P.C., which reads: "Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to limit or affect the inherent powers of the High Court to make such orders as may be necessary to give effect to any orders of this Code or to prevent abuse of process of any Court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice". A bare perusal of Section 482 Cr.P.C. makes it crystal clear that the object of exercise of power under this section is to prevent abuse of process of Court and to secure ends of justice. There are no hard and fast rules that can be laid d....

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....of Investigation v. Duncans Agro Industries Ltd. [1996] 5 SCC 592; (2) Rajesh Bajaj v. State NCT of Delhi [1999] 3 SCC 259 and; (3) Zandu Pharmaceuticals Works Ltd. v. Mohd. Sharaful Haque [2005] 1 SCC 122. This Court in Zandu Pharmaceuticals Ltd., (supra) observed that: "The power under Section 482 of the Code should be used sparingly and with to prevent abuse of process of Court, but not to stifle legitimate prosecution. There can be no two opinions on this, but if it appears to the trained judicial mind that continuation of a prosecution would lead to abuse of process of Court, the power under Section 482 of the Code must be exercised and proceedings must be quashed". Also see Om Prakash v. State of Jharkhand [2012] 12 SCC 72. What emerges from the above judgments is that when a prosecution at the initial stage is asked to be quashed, the tests to be applied by the Court is as to whether the uncontroverted allegations as made in the complaint prima facie establish the case. The Courts have to see whether the continuation of the complaint amounts to abuse of process of law and whether continuation of the criminal proceeding results in miscarriage of justice or when the Court co....