TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2012 (11) TMI 1241
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....e charges framed, relief has been denied to the two Appellants. However, part relief had been granted to two other accused i.e. Anita Mehra (Petitioner in Crl. M.C. No. 2255/2003) and S.K. Khosla (Petitioner in Crl. Rev.P. No. 299/2003). While denial of relief by the High Court by the impugned order dated 13th October, 2011 has been challenged in the appeals filed by the accused R.K. Arora and G.K. Bhatt, the grant of partial relief to one of the two co-accused i.e. S.K. Khosla has been challenged in the appeal filed by the complainant/first Respondent, Satish Mehra. 3. The facts giving rise to the present appeals may now be noted in some detail. The Appellant Satish Mehra and accused Anita Mehra were married some time in the year 1980. At the relevant point of time they were living in the USA. From about October, 1992, the relations between husband and wife became strained and both were locked in a series of litigations including litigations pertaining to custody of the children born out of the marriage. 4. On 06.01.1994, the Appellant Satish Mehra lodged a complaint before the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police New Delhi that he along with his wife Anita Mehra had ....
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....d made no such request to Vyasa bank and that he had misplaced a blank Investment Renewal Form of Vyasa Bank which contained his signature. VII) There was an endorsement of the accused S.K. Khosla in the Investment Renewal Form to the effect that FD No. 0756223 of Vyasa Bank be renewed in the sole name of accused Anita Mehra as against the joint names of Anita Mehra and Satish Mehra. The signatures of Anita Mehra and Satish Mehra in the Investment Renewal Form appear to be old and faded whereas the endorsement made by S.K. Khosla on the said form is a fresh one. The passport number of Satish Mehra entered in the said Form is the old/surrendered passport of the said person. 6. In the light of the aforesaid facts revealed in the course of investigation of FIR No. 110/94, a cancellation report was filed before the learned trial court. The Appellant Satish Mehra filed his objections to the said cancellation report. Thereafter, on a due consideration, the learned trial court directed further investigation in the matter in the course of which the FD receipts in question; the letters dated 09.10.1992 purportedly of accused Anita Mehra to the Canara and Punjab and Sind Bank; th....
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....rfered with the charges framed against the aforesaid accused under Sections 467, 468 and 471 read with Section 120B. The rest of the charges in so far as the aforesaid two accused S.K. Khosla and Anita Mehra is concerned were maintained by the High Court. 11. Aggrieved, the present appeals have been filed by accused G.K. Bhat and R.K. Arora in so far as FD Nos. 22/91 and 9/92 are concerned. While the other accused have not challenged the order of the High Court declining full and complete reliefs as prayed for by them, it is the complainant/first informant, Satish Mehra, who has instituted the connected appeal in so far as the part relief granted to accused S.K. Khosla is concerned. 12. We have heard S/Shri M.N. Krishnamani, Brijender Chhahr, P.V. Shetty and Mukul Gupta, learned senior counsel for the respective parties. 13. Learned Counsel for the Appellants G.K. Bhat and R.K. Arora has argued that no material whatsoever has been brought on record to, even prima facie, show the involvement of either of the accused - Appellants with any of the offences alleged. Mere holding of the office of Chief Manager and Senior Manager of the concerned Branch of the Canara Bank, by its....
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.... would secure the ends of justice; (ii) where it manifestly appears that there is a legal bar against the institution or continuance of the said proceeding e.g. want of sanction; (iii) where the allegations in the first information report or the complaint taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety, do not constitute the offence alleged; and (iv) where the allegations constitute an offence alleged but there is either no legal evidence adduced or evidence adduced clearly or manifestly fails to prove the charge. 15. The power to interdict a proceeding either at the threshold or at an intermediate stage of the trial is inherent in a High Court on the broad principle that in case the allegations made in the FIR or the criminal complaint, as may be, prima facie do not disclose a triable offence there can be reason as to why the accused should be made to suffer the agony of a legal proceeding that more often than not gets protracted. A prosecution which is bound to become lame or a sham ought to interdicted in the interest of justice as continuance thereof will amount to an abuse of the process of the law. This is the core basis on which the pow....
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....accused. The object of the provision which requires the Sessions Judge to record his reasons is to enable the superior court to examine the correctness of the reasons for which the Sessions Judge has held that there is or is not sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused. The High Court therefore is entitled to go into the reasons given by the Sessions Judge in support of his order and to determine for itself whether the order is justified by the facts and circumstances of the case. Section 482 of the New Code, which corresponds to Section 561-A of the Code of 1898, provides that: ... In the exercise of this wholesome power, the High Court is entitled to quash a proceeding if it comes to the conclusion that allowing the proceeding to continue would be an abuse of the process of the Court or that the ends of justice require that the proceeding ought to be quashed. The saving of the High Court's inherent powers, both in civil and criminal matters, is designed to achieve a salutary public purpose which is that a court proceeding ought not to be permitted to degenerate into a weapon of harassment or persecution. In a criminal case, the veiled object behind a lame pr....
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....Section 482 are very wide and at the same time the power requires great caution in its exercise. The Court must be careful to see that its decision in exercise of this power is based on sound principles. The inherent power should not be exercised to stifle a legitimate prosecution. 18. In an earlier part of this order the allegations made in the FIR and the facts disclosed upon investigation of the same have already been noticed. The conclusions of the High Court in the petitions filed by the accused for quashing of the charges framed against them have also been taken note of along with the fact that in the present appeals only a part of said conclusions of the High Court is under challenge and therefore, would be required to be gone into. 19. The view expressed by this Court in Century Spinning's case (supra) and in L. Muniswamy's case (supra) to the effect that the framing of a charge against an accused substantially affects the person's liberty would require a reiteration at this stage. The apparent and close proximity between the framing of a charge in a criminal proceeding and the paramount rights of a person arrayed as an accused under Article 21 of the Cons....
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....nd to implicate the accused. Such a course of action is not contemplated in the system of criminal jurisprudence that has been evolved by the courts over the years. A criminal trial, on the contrary, is contemplated only on definite allegations, prima facie, establishing the commission of an offence by the accused which fact has to be proved by leading unimpeachable and acceptable evidence in the course of the trial against the accused. We are, therefore, of the view that the criminal proceeding in the present form and on the allegations levelled is clearly not maintainable against either of the accused - Appellant G.K. Bhat and R.K. Arora. 20. The next question that has to be addressed is whether the criminal charges against accused S.K. Khosla under Sections 120B and 420 Indian Penal Code in so far as FD Nos. 22/91 and 9/92 are concerned along with the charges under Sections 467, 468 and 471 read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code had been rightly quashed by the High Court. From the materials on record it appears that in so far as FD No. 22/91 is concerned an endorsement on the reverse of the FD was made by accused S.K. Khosla that the said F.D. may be renewed in the n....
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....at the accused S.K. Khosla had used an Investment Renewal Form signed by Satish Mehra which was misplaced by him. The signature and the endorsement made by S.K. Khosla on the said form had also been found, upon investigation, to be relatively fresh in comparison to the signatures of Anita Mehra and Satish Mehra on the said form. This is an additional fact that has to receive due consideration in the process of determination of the prima facie liability of the accused S.K. Khosla under Sections 467, 468 and 471 read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. 22. Section 464 of Indian Penal Code which defines the offence of "forgery" encompasses a dishonest or fraudulent act of a person in making a document with the intention of causing it to be believed that such document was made, signed, sealed etc. by or by the authority of a person by whom or by whose authority he knows that it was not made, signed, sealed, executed etc. If such an act of a person is covered by the definition of "forgery" contained in Section 464 of the Penal Code we do not see as to why the action of the accused S.K. Khosla in making the endorsement in the Investment Renewal Form dated 22.03.1993 of Vyasa B....