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Remedies Against False Criminal Complaints

Businesses in India are increasingly facing the menace of false criminal complaints filed with the sole objective to coerce an out-of-court settlement. While it may be difficult to prevent a disgruntled business associate from filing false criminal cases to coerce a settlement, not only can the prosecution be quashed, but the person behind the suit can be subject to both penal punishment and damages for malicious prosecution. By Abhixit Singh and Durgesh Singh, Titus & Co. Date: July 2007 Businesses in India face the menace of false and vexatious criminal complaints which are filed with the sole objective to influence and coerce an out-of-court settlement of civil disputes. Generally disputes arising out of commercial contracts are civil in nature, such as claim for damages or specific performance. However, nowadays there is a growing tendency in business circles to convert purely civil disputes into criminal prosecution. Typically, litigants convert a case of breach of contract into criminal prosecution by making a criminal complaint for breach of trust, cheating and criminal conspiracy. Such complaints can lead to registration of a First Information Report by the police and issuance of summons and warrants of arrests by the court. These criminal complaints have an added nuisance value for foreign companies as the accused person has to be personally present in court at each hearing. In the event an accused person is not present in court despite service of summons on him, the court may issue non-bailable warrants of arrest against that person. In India, the criminal procedure law is set out by the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC). Besides conferring powers on the criminal courts to try and adjudicate criminal complaints, the CrPC also places certain restraints on the exercise of these powers by the criminal courts. The laws in India provide for the following remedies to a person who has been falsely implicated and embroiled in criminal complaints: Quashing the Complaint The state high courts in India have been given supervisory and regulatory powers over the conduct of the lower criminal courts within their respective territorial jurisdiction, including inherent powers under section 482 of CrPC. section 482 confers inherent powers on the state high courts to intervene in any criminal proceedings, to prevent abuse of the process of the court and to secure the ends of justice. Faced with a false criminal complaint, a person can file a petition under section 482 of the CrPC with the state high court and seek quashing of the criminal complaint. The following principles govern the exercise of the inherent jurisdiction by the high courts under section 482: (i) The power is not to be resorted to if there is a specific provision in the CrPC to redress the grievance of the petitioner. (ii) It should be exercised very sparingly to prevent abuse of the process of any court or otherwise to secure the end of justice. (iii) It should not be exercised as against the express bar of the law engrafted in any other provision of CrPC. In the landmark case State of Haryana vs. Bhajan Lal [1992 Supp. (1) SCC 335], a two judge bench of the Supreme Court of India considered in detail the provisions of section 482 and the power of the high court to quash criminal proceedings. The Supreme Court summarized the legal position by laying the following guidelines to be followed by high courts in exercise of their inherent powers to quash a criminal complaint:

http://www.asialaw.com/Article/1989092/Remedies-Against-False-Criminal-Complaints.... 12/18/2012