MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court quashed the criminal proceedings against an accused in an exorbitant interest act case.
Justice N Anand Venkatesh was hearing a petition filed by RP Ganesh alias Kothanar Ganeshan, one of the five accused in a case booked by the Cumbum South police in 2017 on charges of insisting Ilangovan (the defacto complainant) to pay exorbitant interest. Ganeshan had sought quashing of the proceeding against him in the Judicial Magistrate Court in Uthamapalayam, terming it illegal.
Ilangovan took a loan from the petitioner and other accused, who insisted he pay exorbitant interest. Based on his complaint, an FIR was registered under sections of the IPC and Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act, 2003, on June 21, 2017.
The final report was filed before the district court.
When the quash petition was listed in the high court, Ilangovan was served notices but there was no appearance either in person or through a counsel till the case disposal, the court observed.
On examining Ilangovan’s statement to the police, the court noticed that he had made vague allegations against the petitioner. "A debtor, to claim benefit under the TN Prohibition of Charging Exorbitant Interest Act, must first deposit the money in respect of the loan received by him with interest in line with Section 5(1) of the Act. Once the debtor does this, his bona fides can be assessed," the court observed.
Further, the court said a vague allegation does not constitute an offence. The court felt the criminal proceedings against the petitioner resulted in abuse of the process of law. Hence, the court quashed the proceedings against him in the JM court.