IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No.M-13850 of 2011 (O&M) Date of decision: 6th May, 2011 Amarjeet Kaur … Petitioner Versus Mandeep Kaur … Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. N.S. Behgal, Advocate for the petitioner. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (ORAL) Present petition has been filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. seeking quashing of the criminal complaint No.131/09 dated 15.09.2009 (Annexure P-5) titled as ‘Mandeep Kaur v. Amarjeet Kaur and others’, in which the petitioner has been summoned to stand trial vide summoning order (Annexure P-6) dated 10th July, 2010. Counsel for the petitioner states that on the same set of allegations, the petitioner has instituted a civil suit (Annexure P-3) against the respondent-complainant and in the Civil Court the petitioner can prove that the allegations leveled against her in the complaint are false. A Five-Judges Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in ‘M.S. Sherif and another v. State of Madras and others’ AIR 1954 SC 397, held that between the civil and criminal proceedings, criminal matters should be given precedence. It was further observed that the public interest demands that criminal justice should be swift and sure. Furthermore, in ‘Iqbal Singh Marwah and another v. Meenakshi Criminal Misc. No. M-13850 of 2011 (O&M) Marwah and another’ 2005(4) SCC 370, another Five-Judges Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that the standards of proof required in a civil Court and a criminal Court are entirely different. Civil cases are decided on the basis of preponderance of evidence, while in a criminal case, the entire burden of proof lies on the prosecution and the case has to be proved beyond reasonable doubt. There is neither any statutory provision nor any legal principal that the findings recorded in one proceeding may be treated as final or binding in the other, as both the cases have to be decided on the basis of the evidence adduced therein. Hence, no case is made out for quashing of the complaint and summoning order. However, after hearing counsel for the petitioner, this Court is of the view that a version and counter-version are being projected in a complaint and a civil suit. To avoid judicial embarrassment in parallel proceedings, present petition is hereby disposed of with a direction to the District and Sessions Judge, Kurukshetra to assign the criminal complaint (Annexure P-5) filed by the petitioner to the same Court, which is trying the civil suit (Annexure P-3). The criminal complaint and the civil suit shall be decided simultaneously but separately. [KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA] JUDGE May 6, 2011 rps 2