IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH
JASJIT SINGH BEDI, J.
Ashish Khod. – Petitioner
Versus
State of Haryana & Anr. – Respondents
CRM-M-17791 of 2023
Decided On : 13-04-2023
| Table of Content |
|---|
| 1. details on complaint and subsequent fir (Para 1 , 2 , 3) |
| 2. arguments regarding status as proclaimed person (Para 4 , 5) |
| 3. court's review of case status (Para 6 , 7) |
| 4. precedent on fir and settled disputes (Para 8 , 9) |
| 5. independent nature of section 174a ipc (Para 10 , 11) |
| 6. final ruling and quashing of proceedings (Para 12 , 13) |
JUDGMENT
Jasjit Singh Bedi, J. (Oral)
This is a petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. for quashing of FIR No.768 dated 04.09.2022 (Annexure P-1) under Section 174A IPC registered at P.S. Azad Nagar, Hisar, District Hisar, Haryana as well as subsequent proceedings arising out of the FIR as well as order dated 16.08.2022 (Annexure P-2) passed by the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Hisar whereby petitioner has been declared a proclaimed person in complaint case under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments, 1881 titled as Pardeep Kumar v. Ashish Khod .
2. The brief facts of the case are that in discharge of his legal liability, the petitioner/accused issued a cheque for amount of Rs.9,00,000/- dated 09.10.2018 in favour of respondent No.2-complainanat. The said cheque came to be dishonoured. Pursuant thereto, as no payment was made in lieu of the dishonoured cheque, a complaint under section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act came to be instituted against the petitioner/accused and he was summoned to face trial. Subsequently, he was declared a proclaimed person vide order dated 16.08.2022 (Annexure P-2) Pursuant to the said order, FIR No.768 dated 04.09.2022 (Annexure P-1) came to be registered under Section 174A of IPC at Police Station Azad Nagar, Hisar, District Hisar against him.
3. Thereafter, a compromise was effected between the parties and the complaint was ordered to be dismissed as withdrawn in terms of the order dated 09.02.2023 (Annexure P-3). In view of the dismissal of the complaint under section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act on the basis of the compromise, the present petition has been filed for quashing of the aforesaid order dated 16.08.2022 (Annexure P-2) passed by the Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Hisar and the consequential FIR (Annexure P-1).
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner/accused submits that he had wrongly been declared a proclaimed person and on learning about the same, the petitioner compromised the matter with the complainant. Thereafter, on 09.02.2023, the GPA of the complainant in the Trial Court got recorded his statement that as per his instructions, the complainant did not want to proceed further with the present complaint and wanted to withdraw the same. Based on the said statement, the complaint was ordered to be dismissed as withdrawn on 09.02.2023 (P-3).
5. The learned State counsel has opposed the present petition and has submitted that the petitioner has rightly been declared a proclaimed offender.
6. This Court has heard the learned counsel for the parties and has perused the paper-book.
7. From the above-said facts and circumstances, it is apparent that the present FIR was registered in view of the fact that the petitioner was declared as a proclaimed person in the proceeding under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. The impugned complaint itself has been withdrawn.
8. A co-ordinate Bench of this Court in CRM-M-43813-2018 titled as "Baldev Chand Bansal v. State of Haryana and another", decided on 29.01.2019 has held as under:-
Withdrawal of a complaint under Section 138 of the NI Act leads to quashing of FIR under Section 174A IPC, as continuing proceedings is an abuse of process.
Proceedings under Section 174A IPC are an abuse of process when the underlying complaint is withdrawn following a settlement.
Continuation of proceedings under Section 174-A IPC after withdrawal of the main complaint under Section 138 of Negotiable Instruments Act is an abuse of the process of law and warrants the quashing ....
The withdrawal of the complaint under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act due to a settlement between the parties led to the quashing of the FIR under Section 174-A.
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