The inherent powers of the High Court under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. should be exercised sparingly and with caution, and the court should not embark upon an inquiry into the reliability of the evidence at the stage of quashing the FIR.

ORDER

1. This application under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. has been filed seeking the following reliefs :-

“In view of the facts and circumstances of this case, the petitioner prays that the Hon’ble Court may be pleased to quash the FIR Ann.A/1 and whole proceeding in Crime No.522/21 and ST No.3/22 pending before the learned ASJ Jaisingh Nagar, District Shahdol in respect of petitioner discharging the petitioner from his prosecution in the interest of justice.”

2. It is submitted by counsel for the applicant that the complainant had initially lodged a report that on 12.11.2021 at about 2:45 pm when he came back to his house, then he found that the applicant was coming out of his house and was running away and accordingly, on 13.11.2021 he scolded the applicant as to why he had visited his house, then he was abused filthily in the name of mother and sister by the applicant and also started assaulting him by picking up a lathi lying on the spot. The incident was intervened by Shubham Shrivastava and Abhishek Gupta and thereafter, the applicant went away after extending threat to his life.

3. It is submitted that thereafter, statements of the witnesses were recorded and on the basis of the statement made by the wife of the complainant, other offences were registered.

4. It is submitted that the allegations are completely false. The applicant had made a complaint to the police alleging that the complainant under the influence of liquor is in the habit of abusing him. Thus, it is submitted that the FIR is a product of mala fide intention on the part of the complainant.

5. Considered the submissions made by counsel for the applicant.

6. The applicant has filed a copy of the complaint purportedly made by him to the S.H.O. Police Station Jaisingh Nagar, District Shahdol on 12.11.2021 itself. According to the FIR, the applicant was seen coming out of the house of the complainant on 12.11.2021. It is not the case of the applicant that prior to 12.11.2021 he had ever made any complaint about the conduct of the complainant. If the allegations made in the FIR are correct, then it can be held that making of a written complaint to the S.H.O. Police Station Jaisingh Nagar, District Shahdol was an afterthought with a clear intention to create a false defense.

7. Be that whatever it may be. 8. This Court in exercise of power under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. cannot adjudicate upon the correctness and reliability of the statements of the witnesses. This Court can quash the FIR only if uncontroverted allegations do not make out an offence.

9. Whether the written complaint made by the complainant is correct or not, cannot be adjudicated by this Court and the same can be done by the Trial Court only.

10. So far as the mala fides of the complainant are concerned, the Supreme Court in the case of Renu Kumari Vs. Sanjay Kumar and Others reported in (2008) 12 SCC 346, has held as under :-

“9. “8. Exercise of power under Section 482 CrPC in a case of this nature is the exception and not the rule. The section does not confer any new powers on the High Court. It only saves the inherent power which the Court possessed before the enactment of CrPC. It envisages three circumstances under which the inherent jurisdiction may be exercised, namely, (i) to give effect to an order under CrPC, (ii) to prevent abuse of the process of court, and (iii) to otherwise secure the ends of justice. It is neither possible nor desirable to lay down any inflexible rule which would govern the exercise of inherent jurisdiction. No legislative enactment dealing with procedure can provide for all cases that may possibly arise. The courts, therefore, have inherent powers apart from express provisions of law which are necessary for proper discharge of functions and duties imposed upon them by law. That is the doctrine which finds expression in the section which merely recognises and preserves inherent powers of the High Courts. All courts, whether civil or criminal possess, in the absence of any expres