Sec 482 CrPC to be used very sparingly: Gauhati High Court

Plea to quash FIR against land brokers dismissed

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has declined to invoke its power under Section 482 of the CrPC and dismissed a petition which sought quashing of an FIR which was lodged at the Patacharkuchi Police Station in the Bajali district on September 20, 2021 against 14 persons who were accused of committing illegal activities under the guise of land brokering.

The High Court observed that the Supreme Court has already laid down in an earlier case: "We also give a note of caution to the effect that the power of quashing a criminal proceeding should be exercised sparingly and with circumspection, and that too in the rarest of rare cases."

The petitioners' counsel had submitted that at the time of calling for the Case Diary vide order dated September 24, 202, the High Court had observed that though the case had been registered under certain relevant provisions of law, the FIR and the other materials on record did not prima facie disclose any ingredients of the offence. The court had further observed that land brokering as such cannot constitute an offence under the IPC or the Prevention of Corruption Act, unless it is associated with some activities of a criminal nature. As such, the petitioners' counsel contended that it was a fit case for invoking Section 482 of the CrPC and sought quashing of the FIR.

The High Court, however, cited standing Supreme Court judgments in this connection and inter alia stated: "As has been settled by a number of judicial precedents that an FIR need not be an encyclopedia or elaborate description of all the facts and only the relevant facts needs to be put so as to put the criminal law into motion."

Further, the court observed that the police is yet to file a final report or a charge sheet and the Supreme Court has already made it clear that the "court will not be justified in embarking upon an enquiry as to the reliability or genuineness or otherwise of the allegations made in the FIR or the complaint and that the extraordinary or inherent powers (Section 482 of the CrPC) do not confer an arbitrary jurisdiction on the court to act according to its whim or caprice.

"In the backdrop of the aforesaid facts and circumstances and following the law laid by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, this Court is of the considered opinion that the present is not a fit case for exercising the jurisdiction conferred under Section 482 of the CrPC. This Court is of the view that no exceptional case has been made out for exercising the extraordinary powers. Accordingly, the same stands dismissed."

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