Section 482 Quashing Petition – CRM‑M‑13944 of 2022 – Punjab & Haryana High Court, 2025

Facts: Petitioners entered into an agreement to sell dated 11 June 2018, whereby the deed of conveyance was to be executed on 10 November 2018; subsequently, the alleged seller, identified in the FIR, issued a legal notice on 7 August 2018 demanding the surrender of the original sale deed prior to execution, a demand the petitioners repudiated on the ground that the agreement contained no such stipulation and that at the agreement‑stage original documents were not requisite; on 19 December 2019 a police FIR (No. 0351) was lodged at Model Town Police Station, Hoshiarpur, charging the petitioners under Sections 420 and 120‑B IPC for allegedly refusing to deliver the original deed and for a purported discrepancy in the description of the property which, according to the complainant, precluded the procurement of a loan; the alleged discrepancy, however, was rectified by a document dated 26 April 2018, i.e., prior to the execution of the agreement, and the petitioners had earlier remitted two lakh rupees to the complainant; parallel civil litigation ensued, the petitioners filing a suit for declaration and rescission of the agreement while the complainant pursued recovery of the earnest money; the father of the complainant, a police official, had temporarily seized the house keys under the pretext of cleaning and returned them only after intervention by the Deputy Commissioner; the petitioners thereafter filed, before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, an application under Section 482 CrPC seeking the quashing of the FIR, the accompanying police investigation report under Section 173(2) CrPC, and all consequential proceedings, contending that the criminal complaint arose from a purely civil dispute and therefore constituted an abuse of process; the State, opposing the petition, maintained that the material factual issues could not be resolved on a summary basis and that the FIR therefore warranted continuation.

Issue: Does the alleged non‑handover of the original sale deed satisfy the statutory elements of cheating under Section 420 IPC?

Decision: DECIDED, the Court held that the conduct alleged does not fulfill the essential ingredients of cheating, for the petitioners were not in a position of readiness to transfer ownership, nor did they possess a dishonest intention to induce delivery of the property, a prerequisite expressly required by Section 420; consequently, the allegation fails as a matter of law.

Quote: ["Even otherwise, at the stage of the execution of an agreement to sell, the question of handing over of original documents would not arise. The essential element of cheating—namely, a dishonest intention to induce the complainant to part with the property—was absent, for the petitioners were not prepared to deliver the deed and the allegation of non‑handover therefore cannot satisfy the statutory definition of the offence."]

Issue: Does the correction of the property‑description discrepancy prior to execution negate any offence of forgery or related cheating under the FIR?

Decision: DECIDED, the Court concluded that the existence of a document dated 26 April 2018, which expressly corrected the description before the agreement was consummated, demonstrably defeats any inference of falsification or deception, thereby rendering the second allegation under the FIR untenable.

Quote: ["As regards allegation No. 2, the document dated 26.04.2018 (Annexure P‑4) clearly establishes that the discrepancy was corrected prior to execution of the agreement to sell dated 11.06.2018 (Annexure P‑1). In view of this correction, no offence of forgery or cheating may be sustained."]

Issue: Is the dispute at the heart of the FIR essentially civil, rendering the criminal proceeding an abuse of process?

Decision: DECIDED, the Court found that the contested matters—namely, the handover of original documents and the rectification of a description—were the subject of parallel civil suits, and that the criminal complaint was invoked merely to enforce civil rights, thereby constituting a misuse of the criminal machinery.

Quote: ["The continuation of the instant proceedings emanating out of the FIR are nothing but an abuse of the process of the Court. The existence of two parallel civil suits, one seeking rescission and the other seeking recovery of earnest money, demonstrates that the core controversy is civil in nature and not amenable to criminal prosecution."]

Issue: Can the investigation report filed under Section 173(2) CrPC provide a sufficient basis to perpetuate the prosecution?

Decision: DECIDED, the Court held that a report prepared in the absence of a cognizable offence, especially where the factual matrix reveals a civil dispute, cannot legitimize the continuation of criminal proceedings, and therefore the report offers no legal foundation for the prosecution.

Quote: ["In view of the above findings, the FIR No.0351 dated 19.12.2019 registered under Sections 420/120‑B IPC ... stand quashed. The investigation report under Section 173(2) CrPC, being predicated upon an untenable criminal charge, cannot support the sustenance of the proceeding."]

Issue: Does the High Court possess the inherent authority under Section 482 CrPC to quash the FIR and the investigation report to prevent abuse of process?

Decision: DECIDED, invoking its inherent power under Section 482, the Court exercised its discretion to set aside the FIR and the accompanying report, on the ground that maintaining them would amount to an impermissible intrusion into a civil dispute and would contravene the principle of preventing abuse of judicial process.

Quote: ["The Court, exercising its inherent power under Section 482 CrPC, hereby quashes the FIR No.0351 dated 19.12.2019 and the investigation report under Section 173(2) CrPC, as their continuation would be an abuse of process and inconsistent with the civil nature of the underlying controversy."]

Conclusion: The Punjab and Haryana High Court, after meticulous examination of the factual milieu and the applicable statutory framework, extinguished the criminal dimension of the dispute by quashing FIR No.0351, the investigation report filed under Section 173(2) CrPC, and all ensuing proceedings, while expressly refraining from interfering with the parallel civil suits pending before the subordinate courts.

Quashing of Criminal Proceedings – SimranLaw Representation Before the High Court at Chandigarh

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