Bombay High Court Quashes FIR Over Fabricated Covid Negative Reports, Cites Exigency and No-Objection

Mumbai, August 10: The High Court of Judicature at Bombay has quashed an FIR and charge sheet arising from the fabrication of negative RT-PCR Covid-19 reports during the pandemic—but not without attaching a charitable price to the relief.

Justice Milind N. Jadhav allowed the criminal writ petition filed by Shivaji Maruti Kamble, Prathamesh Manohar Parab and Vikrant Vilas Tambe, subject to each of them paying Rs 10,000—Rs 30,000 in all—to A.K. Munshi Yojana's J.T. Sheth Mandbuddhi Vikas Kendra, a special school in Mumbai that educates and trains about 150 children with intellectual disabilities.

A Lockdown Shortcut With Criminal Consequences

The case traces to August 2021, when Sajjit Co-operative Housing Society Limited , on Bhulabhai Desai Road in Mumbai, was enforcing strict entry protocols. According to the High Court, the petitioners created fabricated Covid-19 test reports "in order to ease and evade" those protocols. The reports were made to appear as if issued by Metropolis Laboratory , using a Sony VAIO laptop and Adobe Illustrator CS3 editing software—the work of petitioner Vikrant Vilas Tambe, described as a young web designer.

"During the exigency of the Covid-19 Pandemic, in order to ease and evade the entry protocols to the society, the Applicants had created fabricated Covid-19 tests reports through the accused no. 3, a young web designer for the purpose of their security staff," the court noted.

The alleged forgery came to light when security personnel and the society chairman found discrepancies in a negative RT-PCR certificate. After verification and suspicion of foul play, Gamdevi Police Station registered FIR No. 134 of 2021. The charge sheet, filed on August 28, 2021, alleged offences under Sections 188, 269, 420, 465, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code—covering disobedience of public orders, negligent acts likely to spread infection, cheating, forgery, forgery for cheating, and using forged documents as genuine. The matter was pending as CC No. 449/PW/2021 before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, 40th Court, Girgaon, Mumbai.

'No Actual Harm': Society Drops Its Opposition

The petitioners sought quashing of the FIR, the charge sheet and all consequent proceedings. The High Court noted that they had acted during lockdown-related anxiety and restrictions. The decisive turn came from the complainant side: the society's managing committee passed a resolution and filed an affidavit on July 21, 2026, stating that no actual harm or illness was caused to society members and that, considering the petitioners' youth and future, it had no objection to the quashing. The society chairman was present in court and confirmed the resolution.

" Prima facie , one can understand the exigency due to which the alleged crime had occurred," Justice Jadhav observed, while recording the society's change of stance.

'An Act of Crime Will Remain an Act of Crime'

The judgment is not a blanket endorsement of pandemic-era rule-breaking. "However, still an act of crime will remain as an act of crime, and therefore, though I am inclined to allow the present Writ Petition , subject to the three Petitioners before Court paying costs of Rs.10,000/- each," the court held.

The money was directed to be paid within one week of the order being uploaded, with the receipt placed on record. The court also observed that the act, at the time, was committed when many people were on the brink of losing their sanity because of lockdown protocols and restrictions.

The legal reasoning balanced several factors: the admittedly criminal nature of fabricating a medical document, the extraordinary circumstances of the pandemic, the absence of actual prejudice to society members, the formal no-objection of the complainant society, and the desire to protect young accused from the long-term consequences of a criminal trial.

Decision and Practical Effect

The High Court allowed the petition in terms of prayer clause (a), quashing FIR No. 134 of 2021, the charge sheet dated August 28, 2021, and all consequential proceedings in CC No. 449/PW/2021 before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, 40th Court, Girgaon, Mumbai.

It also directed that if the petitioners make an appropriate application before the magistrate, the seized laptop and other goods should be returned to them within one week of such application. The matter has been listed for compliance on August 18, 2026.

By imposing costs and expressly acknowledging that a crime remains a crime, the judgment demonstrates that a plea of pandemic exigency can lead to quashing—but not without accountability.