The Supreme Court Monday pulled up the Uttar Pradesh Police for filing criminal charges in what it said was primarily a civil dispute for allegedly not returning Rs 25 lakh borrowed from a person.
The apex court was hearing an appeal challenging the Allahabad High Court decision dismissing the plea to quash FIR against petitioners Debu Singh and Deepak Singh facing charges of criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation, and criminal conspiracy.
“This is wrong what is happening in UP. Every day in and day out, civil matters are being converted into criminal… This is an absolute breakdown of the rule of law,” Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna presiding over a three-judge bench said.
The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan, said this was contrary to its direction in the case of Sharif Ahmed vs State of Uttar Pradesh wherein it laid down that the investigating officer must ensure that the chargesheet contains clear and complete entries of all columns in the chargesheet so that the court can clearly understand which crime has been committed by which accused and what is the material evidence available on the file.
“The order taking cognisance, the summoning order as well as the chargesheet filed is clearly contrary to the decision in Sharif Ahmed and others Vs State of UP. In view of this, we would require the Director General of Police of UP as well as the Station House Officer/ Investigation Officer of the police station to file an affidavit showing compliance with the directions given in the judgment,” the bench said in the order.
The bench directed that the affidavit be filed within two weeks, and ordered that “the proceedings in trial court will remain stayed against all accused”. “Proceedings under section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, which are not the subject matter of the present petition, shall continue,” said the bench.
As per the prosecution, the petitioners’ father, Baljeet Singh, who had a scrap business, had borrowed Rs 25 lakh from one Deepak Behl in their presence. Subsequently, Baljeet Singh refused to return the money at the promised time, and when Behl demanded it back, he allegedly threatened, saying he and his sons would burn him alive.
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The Allahabad High Court dismissed their plea to quash the FIR, saying it discloses commissioning of cognisable offence, and, therefore, the prayer made to quash the FIR cannot be entertained.
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