Criminal proceedings may be quashed when the dispute is essentially private in nature and the parties have reached a settlement, as continuing the trial would be an abuse of the process of law.

ORDER

The petitioner/accused in Crime No.1 of 2026 for the offence under Sections 77 , 79, 308(2) of BNS Act , Section 66E of Information Technology Act and Section 4 of Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Women Harassment Act , filed this quash petition.

The second respondent/defacto complainant lodged a complaint on 01.01.2026 stating that she married one Rakesh four years before. She completed B.E. (CSE) in the year 2015 and employed as Executive in SPS Company, at that time, one Suganya who was working there became friendly. The said Suganya had love affair with Manikandan and the defacto complainant became friendly with him as well. In the year 2019, the said Suganya and Manikanda got married but the friendship between the petitioner and the second respondent/defacto complainant continued, in fact they became closer. In the year 2021, engagement between the defacto complainant and Rakesh was fixed, at that time, the petitioner made video call to the defacto complainant, spoke sweet words and requested to show her nude upper body. On his request, the defacto complainant also exhibited herself. The petitioner without the knowledge of the defacto complainant took screenshot and in the year 2022 the petitioner contacted the defacto complainant and showed her nude screenshot and threatened her that he would send the screenshot to her relatives. The petitioner using the threat also collected a sum of Rs.8,75,000/- . The defacto complainant paid the amount through Gpay to the account of petitioner’s wife Suganya in Indian Overseas Bank. On 15.12.2025 the petitioner called the defacto complainant through Whatsapp and demanded Rs.8,00,000/- and again threatened her that he would post the screenshot in Social media. Hence, complaint lodged and a case in Crime No.1 of 2026 registered.

The contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the defacto complainant is a colleague of petitioner’s wife and there was some misunderstanding between the petitioner’s wife and the defacto complainant, in the cross while the petitioner has been caught. The petitioner knew the defacto complainant only as the colleague of his wife and she used to share her difficult times. The petitioner used to advise her and later the defacto complainant became too possessive, the petitioner moved away and now complaint registered against him making serious allegations. The petitioner submits that screenshot is only morphed which was also removed. In such circumstances, proceeding with the above complaint would serve no purpose. In the meanwhile, the defacto complainant also collected back the sum of Rs.8,75,000/- by way of two demand drafts, namely, a sum of Rs.4,50,000/- vide DD.No.100524 dated 08.01.2026 and a sum of Rs.4,25,000/- vide DD.No.225345 dated 27.02.2026, both drawn on Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank Limited. He further submits that now the defacto complainant come forward to withdraw the complaint and also filed an affidavit in this regard.

The learned Additional Public Prosecutor submitted that on the complaint of the defacto complainant, case registered against the petitioner. The complaint made is of serious in nature. The petitioner’s wife and defacto complainant were colleagues, the petitioner used to regularly visit the defacto complainant’s office, later developed friendship and also shown interest on her. The defacto complainant knowing that the petitioner is her colleague’s husband moved close with him and the petitioner borrowed nearly Rs.8,75,000/- from the defacto complainant and not repaid the same. When the defacto complainant demanded repayment, the petitioner shown a morphed obscene photograph of defacto complainant and hence, complaint lodged and case registered. Now the issue had been resolved, the defacto complainant appeared before the respondent police and requested that the complaint to be withdrawn.

The scanned reproduction of the two demand drafts is as follows:

[[IMG_1]]

[[IMG_2]]

A scanned reproduc