Case: State Vs. R. Vasanthi Stanley and Ors

be used with care, caution, circumspection and courageous prudence." 11. Recently, in CBI v. Maninder Singh, 2015(4) Recent Apex Judgments (R.A.J.) 498 : 2015 (9) SCALE 365 , the allegation against the accused was that bill of lading presented by the proprietors of the accused firms were found forged and cases were registered under Section 120-B IPC read with Section 420 IPC and Section 5(2) read with Section 5(1)(d) of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and further substantive offences under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 IPC. The accused person arrived at a settlement with the Bank and thereafter moved the High Court under Section 482 CrPC for quashing of the FIR. The High Court placed reliance on the decision in Nikhil Merchant (supra) and allowed the petition and directed for quashing of the criminal proceedings. This Court placed reliance on Vikram Anantrai Doshi and others (supra) and came to hold as follows:- "10. The allegation against the respondent is forgery for the purpose of cheating and use of forged documents as genuine in order to embezzle the public money. After facing such serious charges of forgery, the Respondent wants the proceedings to be quashed on account of settlement with the bank. The development in means of communication, science & technology etc. have led to an enormous increase in economic crimes viz. phishing, ATM frauds etc. which are being committed by intelligent but devious individuals involving huge sums of public or Government money. These are actually public wrongs or crimes committed against society and the gravity and magnitude attached to these offences is concentrated at public at large.11. The inherent power of the High Court Under Section 482 Code of Criminal Procedure should be sparingly used. Only when the Court comes to the conclusion that there would be manifest injustice or there would be abuse of the process of the Court if such power is not exercised, Court would quash the proceedings. In economic offences Court must not only keep in view that money has been paid to the bank which has been defrauded but also the society at large. It is not a case of simple assault or a theft of a trivial amount; but the offence with which we are concerned is a well planned and was committed with a deliberate design with an eye of personal profit regardless of consequence to the society at large. To quash the proceeding merely on the ground that the accused has settled the amount with the bank would be a misplaced sympathy." 12. Testing the present controversy on the anvil of the aforesaid principles, we are disposed to think that the High Court has been erroneously guided by the ambit and sweep of power under Section 482 CrPC for quashing the proceedings. It has absolutely fallaciously opined that the continuance of the proceeding will be the abuse of the process of the Court. It has been categorically held in Janta Dal v. H.S. Chowdhary, (1992) 4 SCC 305 , that the inherent power under Section 482 CrPC though unrestricted and undefined should not be capriciously or arbitrarily exercised, but should be exercised in appropriate cases, ex debito justitiae to do real and substantial justice for the administration of which alone the courts exist. In Inder Mohan Goswami (supra), it has been emphasised that inherent powers have to be exercised sparingly, carefully and with great caution.13. We will be failing in our duty unless we advert to the proponements propounded with regard to other aspects. They are really matters of concern and deserve to be addressed. The submission as put forth is that the first respondent is a lady and she was following the command of her husband and signed the documents without being aware about the transactions entered into by the husband and nature of the business. The allegation in the chargesheet is that she has signed the pronotes. That apart, as further alleged, she is a co-applicant in two cases and guarantor in other two cases. She was an Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and after taking voluntary retirement she has joined the public life, and became a member of the Rajya Sabha. Emphasis is also laid that she is a lady and there is no warrant to continue the criminal proceeding when she has paid the dues of the banks, and if anything further is due that shall be made good. The assertions as regards the ignorance are a mere pretence and sans substance given the facts. Lack of awareness, knowledge or intent is neither to be considered nor accepted in economic offences. The submission assiduously presented on gender leaves us unimpressed. An offence under the criminal law is an offence and it does not depend upon the gender of an accused. True it is, there are certain provisions in CrPC relating to exercise of jurisdiction under Section 437, etc. therein but that altogether pertains to a different sphere. A person committing a murder or getting involved in a financial scam or forgery of documents, cannot claim discharge or acquittal on the ground of her gender as that is neither constitutionally nor statutorily a valid argument. The offence is gender neutral in this case. We say no more on this score.14. As far as the load on the criminal justice dispensation system is concerned it has an insegragable nexus with speedy trial. A grave criminal offence or serious economic offence or for that matter the offence that has the potentiality to create a dent in the financial health of the institutions, is not to be quashed on the ground that there is delay in trial or the principle that when the matter has been settled it should be quashed to avoid the load on the system. That can never be an acceptable principle or parameter, for that would amount to destroying the stem cells of law and order in many a realm and further strengthen the marrows of the unscrupulous litigations. Such a situation should never be conceived of.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 1

Explanation:
1[ds]11. The inherent power of the High Court Under Section 482 Code of Criminal Procedure should be sparingly used. Only when the Court comes to the conclusion that there would be manifest injustice or there would be abuse of the process of the Court if such power is not exercised, Court would quash the proceedings. In economic offences Court must not only keep in view that money has been paid to the bank which has been defrauded but also the society at large. It is not a case of simple assault or a theft of a trivial amount; but the offence with which we are concerned is a well planned and was committed with a deliberate design with an eye of personal profit regardless of consequence to the society at large. To quash the proceeding merely on the ground that the accused has settled the amount with the bank would be a misplaced sympathy.Testing the present controversy on the anvil of the aforesaid principles, we are disposed to think that the High Court has been erroneously guided by the ambit and sweep of power under Section 482 CrPC for quashing the proceedings. It has absolutely fallaciously opined that the continuance of the proceeding will be the abuse of the process of the Court. It has been categorically held in Janta Dal v. H.S. Chowdhary, (1992) 4 SCC 305 , that the inherent power under Section 482 CrPC though unrestricted and undefined should not be capriciously or arbitrarily exercised, but should be exercised in appropriate cases, ex debito justitiae to do real and substantial justice for the administration of which alone the courts exist. In Inder Mohan Goswami (supra), it has been emphasised that inherent powers have to be exercised sparingly, carefully and with great caution.13. We will be failing in our duty unless we advert to the proponements propounded with regard to other aspects. They are really matters of concern and deserve to be addressed. The submission as put forth is that the first respondent is a lady and she was following the command of her husband and signed the documents without being aware about the transactions entered into by the husband and nature of the business. The allegation in the chargesheet is that she has signed the pronotes. That apart, as further alleged, she is ain two cases and guarantor in other two cases. She was an Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and after taking voluntary retirement she has joined the public life, and became a member of the Rajya Sabha. Emphasis is also laid that she is a lady and there is no warrant to continue the criminal proceeding when she has paid the dues of the banks, and if anything further is due that shall be made good. The assertions as regards the ignorance are a mere pretence and sans substance given the facts. Lack of awareness, knowledge or intent is neither to be considered nor accepted in economic offences. The submission assiduously presented on gender leaves us unimpressed. An offence under the criminal law is an offence and it does not depend upon the gender of an accused. True it is, there are certain provisions in CrPC relating to exercise of jurisdiction under Section 437, etc. therein but that altogether pertains to a different sphere. A person committing a murder or getting involved in a financial scam or forgery of documents, cannot claim discharge or acquittal on the ground of her gender as that is neither constitutionally nor statutorily a valid argument. The offence is gender neutral in this case. We say no more on this score.14. As far as the load on the criminal justice dispensation system is concerned it has an insegragable nexus with speedy trial. A grave criminal offence or serious economic offence or for that matter the offence that has the potentiality to create a dent in the financial health of the institutions, is not to be quashed on the ground that there is delay in trial or the principle that when the matter has been settled it should be quashed to avoid the load on the system. That can never be an acceptable principle or parameter, for that would amount to destroying the stem cells of law and order in many a realm and further strengthen the marrows of the unscrupulous litigations. Such a situation should never be conceived of.