BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court said that police must exercise restraint while investigating civil disputes concerning title deeds, revenue entries, powers of attorney, or sale deeds unless allegations unmistakably exude overwhelming criminality.
The court said, “Equally, criminal courts, even at the stage of framing of charge, are duty-bound to scrutinise whether the material placed before them genuinely discloses strong suspicion and a reasonable prospect of conviction.
The pendency of civil proceedings cannot be ignored while assessing whether criminal prosecution is being employed as a weapon of harassment.” Justice M Nagaprasanna made these observations while quashing the criminal proceedings initiated against advocate S Rajendra, representing a litigant and others in a civil dispute concerning a piece of land at Nagarabhavi, in response to their petition challenging the legality of the criminal case registered against them.
The court noted that what emerges with crystalline clarity is the complete absence of even an iota of criminality, and a simmering land dispute between the parties has been artfully clothed in the robes of criminal prosecution. Therefore, the criminal law cannot be permitted to degenerate into a weapon of oppression in aid of a civil contest.
Therefore, on this solitary yet substantial ground, the impugned crime deserves to be obliterated at its very inception, the court said. Stating that the police ought not to be permitted to investigate matters, the court noted that the pendency of civil proceedings cannot be ignored by the criminal courts while assessing whether criminal prosecution is being employed as a weapon of harassment.
“The criminal justice system, therefore, must operate through these twin filters-first, at the stage of investigation and filing of charge sheet, and next at the stage of framing of charge by the concerned court.