Himachal Pradesh High Court
Reserved On: 27.02.2026 vs State Of H.P. And Another on 9 March, 2026
2026:HHC:6246
IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA
.
Cr. MMO No. 1111 of 2025
Reserved on: 27.02.2026
Date of Decision: 09.03.2026.
G. Haneef ...Petitioner
of
Versus
State of H.P. and another ...Respondents
Coram
rt
Hon'ble Mr Justice Rakesh Kainthla, Judge.
Whether approved for reporting?1 No
For the Petitioner : Mr S.C. Sharma, Senior
Advocate, with M/s
Jyotirmay Bhatt and
Sushmit Bhatt, Advocates.
For Respondents No.1 & 2/State : Mr Ajit Sharma, Deputy
Advocate General.
For respondent No.3 : Mr Narender Singh
Thakur, Advocate.
Rakesh Kainthla, Judge
The petitioner has filed the present petition for
quashing of FIR No. 64 of 2023, dated 31.3.2023, registered at
Police Station Theog, District Shimla, H.P., for the commission of
1
Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes.
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an offence punishable under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code
(IPC).
.
2. Briefly stated, the facts giving rise to the present
petition are that the respondent No.3/informant was running a
business of sale and purchase of apples at Parala, Sabji Mandi,
of
Tehsil Theog. SFC Karnatka, PSP Puducherry, FF Shaik Sadik
Tirupati, YNC Noshad (V) Warangal and EFC Najmal Kerala had
rt
purchased apples from him, but had not paid him the money.
They cheated the informant and deprived him of an amount of
₹2,54,83,017/-. Hence, the informant filed a complaint before the
police, praying that an action be taken against the merchants as
per the law. The police registered the FIR and investigated the
matter.
3. Being aggrieved by the registration of the FIR, the
accused/petitioner has filed the present petition seeking the
quashing of the FIR. It has been asserted that the contents of the
FIR do not satisfy the requirement Section 420 of the IPC. There
was a delay in reporting the matter to the police. The allegations
in the FIR, even if accepted to be correct discloses a civil dispute
related to the business transaction, and there is no criminality
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involved in the present case. A mere breach of contract or non-
payment of dues does not amount to cheating. Therefore, it was
.
prayed that the present petition be allowed and the FIR be
quashed qua the petitioner.
4. The petition is opposed by respondents No.1 and 2 by
of
filing a reply making preliminary submissions regarding the lack
of maintainability and locus standi. The contents of the petition
rt
were admitted regarding the filing of the FIR. It was asserted that
the petitioner had been absconding since 2019 and had not paid
an amount of ₹1,04,28,946/- to the informant. The allegations in
the FIR disclose the commission of a cognizable offence. The
investigation is complete, and the charge sheet is to be filed
against the petitioner. It was specifically denied that the dispute
between the parties pertained to a commercial dispute and did
not involve any criminality. Hence, it was prayed that the present
petition be dismissed.
5. A separate reply was filed by respondent
No.3/informant admitting that an FIR was registered by
respondent No.3/informant against the petitioner and other apple
traders. It was asserted that the apple traders had defaulted in
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paying the money to the informant, and he was left with no other
option but to register the FIR. The petitioner remained absconded
.
for 2 years and did not join the investigation. Therefore, it was
prayed that the present petition be dismissed.
6. I have heard Mr S.C. Sharma, learned Senior Advocate
of
with M/s Jyotirmay Bhatt and Sushmit Bhatt, learned counsel for
the petitioner, Mr Ajit Sharma, learned Deputy Advocate General
rt
for respondents No.1 and 2, and Mr Narender Singh Thakur,
learned counsel, for respondent No.3.
7. Mr S.C. Sharma, learned Senior Counsel for the
petitioner, submitted that the allegations in the FIR do not
disclose the commission of any offence. False allegations were
made against him. The contents of the FIR, even if accepted to be
correct, do not constitute the commission of any cognizable
offence. Therefore, he prayed that the present petition be allowed
and the FIR be quashed. He relied upon the judgments of Kunti
and another vs. State of Uttar Pradesh and another (2023) 6 SCC 109,
Sarabjit Kaur vs. State of Punjab and another 2023 STPL 3358 SC,
Rikhab Birani and Anr versus State of Uttar Pradesh and Anr 2025
INSC 512 in support of his submission.
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8. Mr Ajit Sharma, learned Deputy Advocate General for
the respondents No.1 and 2/State submitted that the petitioner
.
had taken the apples from the informant after promising to pay
the money to him. However, he failed to do so, which shows that
his intention was fraudulent to begin with. The investigation is
complete, and the charge sheet is to be filed before this Court.
of
This Court should not exercise the extraordinary jurisdiction
vested in it under Section 528 of BNSS. Hence, he prayed that the
rt
present petition be dismissed.
9. Mr Narender Singh Thakur, learned counsel for
respondent No.3, adopted the submissions of Mr Ajit Sharma,
learned Deputy Advocate General for respondents No.1 and 2 and
prayed that the present petition be dismissed.
10. I have given considerable thought to the submissions
made at the bar and have gone through the records carefully.
11. The law relating to quashing of FIR was explained by
the Hon’ble Supreme Court in B.N. John v. State of U.P., 2025 SCC
OnLine SC 7 as under: –
“7. As far as the quashing of criminal cases is concerned, it
is now more or less well settled as regards the principles to
be applied by the court. In this regard, one may refer to the::: Downloaded on – 09/03/2026 20:33:44 :::CIS
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2026:HHC:6246decision of this Court in State of Haryana v. Ch. Bhajan Lal,
1992 Supp (1) SCC 335, wherein this Court has summarised
some of the principles under which.
FIR/complaints/criminal cases could be quashed in the
following words:
“102. In the backdrop of the interpretation of the
various relevant provisions of the Code under ChapterXIV and of the principles of law enunciated by this Court
in a series of decisions relating to the exercise of the
extraordinary power under Article 226 or the inherentof
powers under Section 482 of the Code which we have
extracted and reproduced above, we give the following
categories of cases by way of illustration wherein such
power could be exercised either to prevent abuse of the
rt
process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of
justice, though it may not be possible to lay down anyprecise, clearly defined and sufficiently channelised and
inflexible guidelines or rigid formulae and to give an
exhaustive list of myriad kinds of cases wherein such
power should be exercised.
(1) Where the allegations made in the first
information report or the complaint, even if they aretaken at their face value and accepted in their
entirety, do not prima facie constitute any offence ormake out a case against the accused.
(2) Where the allegations in the first information
report and other materials, if any, accompanyingthe FIR do not disclose a cognizable offence,
justifying an investigation by police officers
under Section 156(1) of the Code, except under an
order of a Magistrate within the purview of
Section 155(2) of the Code.
(3) Where the uncontroverted allegations made in
the FIR or complaint and the evidence collected in
support of the same do not disclose the
commission of any offence and make out a case
against the accused.
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(4) Where the allegations in the FIR do not constitute
a cognizable offence but constitute only a non-
cognizable offence, no investigation is permitted by a
.
police officer without an order of a Magistrate as
contemplated under Section 155(2) of the Code.
(5) Where the allegations made in the FIR or
complaint are so absurd and inherently
improbable based on which no prudent person
can ever reach a just conclusion that there is
sufficient ground for proceeding against the
of
accused.
(6) Where there is an express legal bar engrafted in
rt any of the provisions of the Code or the concerned Act
(under which a criminal proceeding is instituted) to
the institution and continuance of the proceedings,
and/or where there is a specific provision in the Code
or the concerned Act, providing efficacious redress for
the grievance of the aggrieved party.
(7) Where a criminal proceeding is manifestly
attended with mala fide and/or where the
proceeding is maliciously instituted with an
ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the
accused and with a view to spite him due to a
private and personal grudge.” (emphasis added)
8. Of the aforesaid criteria, clause no. (1), (4), and (6)
would be of relevance to us in this case.
In clause (1), it has been mentioned that where the
allegations made in the first information report or the
complaint, even if they are taken at their face value and
accepted in their entirety, do not prima facie constitute any
offence or make out a case against the accused, then the
FIR or the complaint can be quashed.
As per clause (4), where the allegations in the FIR do not
constitute a cognizable offence but constitute only a non-
cognizable offence, no investigation is permitted by a
police officer without an order dated by the Magistrate as
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contemplated under Section 155 (2) of the CrPC, and in
such a situation, the FIR can be quashed.
Similarly, as provided under clause (6), if there is an
.
express legal bar engrafted in any of the provisions of the
CrPC or the concerned Act under which the criminal
proceedings are instituted, such proceedings can be
quashed.”
12. This position was reiterated in Ajay Malik v. State of
Uttarakhand, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 185, wherein it was observed:
of
“8. It is well established that a High Court, in exercising its
extraordinary powers under Section 482 of the CrPC, may
rt
issue orders to prevent the abuse of court processes or to
secure the ends of justice. These inherent powers areneither controlled nor limited by any other statutory
provision. However, given the broad and profound nature
of this authority, the High Court must exercise it sparingly.
The conditions for invoking such powers are embedded
within Section 482 of the CrPC itself, allowing the High
Court to act only in cases of clear abuse of process or where
intervention is essential to uphold the ends of justice.
9. It is in this backdrop that this Court, over the course of
several decades, has laid down the principles and
guidelines that High Courts must follow before quashing
criminal proceedings at the threshold, thereby pre-
empting the Prosecution from building its case before the
Trial Court. The grounds for quashing, inter alia,
contemplate the following situations : (i) the criminal
complaint has been filed with mala fides; (ii) the FIR
represents an abuse of the legal process; (iii) no prima facie
offence is made out; (iv) the dispute is civil in nature; (v.)
the complaint contains vague and omnibus allegations;
and (vi) the parties are willing to settle and compound the
dispute amicably (State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, 1992 Supp
(1) SCC 335)
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13. The present petition is to be decided as per the
parameters laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
.
14. The FIR was registered for the commission of an
offence punishable under Section 420 of the IPC. The ingredients
of cheating were explained by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in S.W.
of
Palanitkar v. State of Bihar, (2002) 1 SCC 241, as under:
“10. The ingredients of an offence of cheating are: (i) there
should be fraudulent or dishonest inducement of a person
rt
by deceiving him, (ii)(a) the person so deceived should be
induced to deliver any property to any person or to consentthat any person shall retain any property; or (b) the person
so deceived should be intentionally induced to do or omit
to do anything which he would not do or omit if he werenot so deceived; and (iii) in cases covered by (ii)(b), the act
of omission should be one which causes or is likely to cause
damage or harm to the person induced in body, mind,reputation or property.
11. One of us (D.P. Mohapatra, J.), speaking for the Bench,
in HridayaRanjan Prasad Verma v. State of Bihar [(2000) 4
SCC 168: 2000 SCC (Cri) 786] on facts of that case, has
expressed thus: (SCC p. 177, para 15)
“15. In determining the question, it has to be kept in
mind that the distinction between mere breach of
contract and the offence of cheating is a fine one. It
depends upon the intention of the accused at the
time of inducement, which may be judged by his
subsequent conduct, but for this, subsequent
conduct is not the sole test. Mere breach of contract
cannot give rise to criminal prosecution for cheating
unless fraudulent or dishonest intention is shown
right at the beginning of the transaction, that is, the
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time when the offence is said to have been
committed. Therefore, it is the intention which is the
gist of the offence. To hold a person guilty of cheating,
.
it is necessary to show that he had a fraudulent or
dishonest intention at the time of making the promise.
From his mere failure to keep up a promise,
subsequently, such a culpable intention right at the
beginning, that is, when he made the promise, cannot be
presumed.” (emphasis supplied)
of
12. Finding that the ingredients of the offence of cheating
and its allied offences had not been made out, this Court
interfered with the order of the High Court and quashed
the criminal proceedings.
rt
13. In G.V. Rao v. L.H.V. Prasad [(2000) 3 SCC 693: 2000 SCC
(Cri) 733], this Court in para 7 has stated thus: (SCC pp.
696-97)
“7. As mentioned above, Section 415 has two parts.
While in the first part, the person must ‘dishonestly’
or ‘fraudulently’ induce the complainant to deliver
any property; in the second part, the person should
intentionally induce the complainant to do or omit to
do a thing. That is to say, in the first part,
inducement must be dishonest or fraudulent. In the
second part, the inducement should be intentional.
As observed by this Court in
JaswantraiManilalAkhaney v. State of Bombay [AIR
1956 SC 575: 1956 Cri LJ 1116], a guilty intention is an
essential ingredient of the offence of cheating. In
order, therefore, to secure the conviction of a person
for the offence of cheating, ‘mens rea’ on the part of
that person must be established. It was also observed
in Mahadeo Prasad v. State of W.B. [AIR 1954 SC 724:
1954 Cri LJ 1806] that in order to constitute the offence
of cheating, the intention to deceive should be in
existence at the time when the inducement was
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14. In Trisuns Chemical Industry v. Rajesh Agarwal [(1999) 8
SCC 686: 2000 SCC (Cri) 47] dealing with the effect of
existence of arbitration clause in the agreement on.
criminal prosecution on the ground that civil proceedings
are also maintainable, this Court has held that quashing of
FIR or a complaint exercising power under Section 482
CrPC should be limited to a very extreme exception; merely
because an act has a civil profile is not enough to stop
action on the criminal side. It is further held that a
provision made in the agreement for referring the disputes
of
to arbitration is not an effective substitute for a criminal
prosecution when the disputed act constitutes a criminal
offence.
15.
rt
A similar view was taken in G.V. Rao v. L.H.V. Prasad,
(2000) 3 SCC 693, as under:
“4. Cheating” is defined in Section 415 of the Penal Code,
1860, which provides as under:
“415. Cheating.–Whoever, by deceiving any person,
fraudulently or dishonestly induces the person sodeceived to deliver any property to any person, or to
consent that any person shall retain any property, orintentionally induces the person so deceived to do or
omit to do anything which he would not do or omit if
he were not so deceived, and which act or omissioncauses or is likely to cause damage or harm to that
person in body, mind, reputation or property, is said
to ‘cheat’.
Explanation.–A dishonest concealment of facts is a
deception within the meaning of this section.”
5. The High Court quashed the proceedings principally on
the ground that Chapter XVII of the Penal Code, 1860, deals
with the offences against properties and, therefore, Section
415 must also necessarily relate to the property which, in
the instant case, is not involved and, consequently, the FIR
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was liable to be quashed. The broad proposition on which
the High Court proceeded is not correct. While the first part
of the definition relates to property, the second part does
.
not necessarily relate to property. The second part is
reproduced below:
“415. … intentionally induces the person so deceived
to do or omit to do anything which he would not do
or omit if he were not so deceived, and which act or
omission causes or is likely to cause damage or harmof
to that person in body, mind, reputation or property,
is said to ‘cheat’.”
6. This part speaks of intentional deception which must be
intended not only to induce the person deceived to do or
rt
omit to do something but also to cause damage or harm to
that person in body, mind, reputation or property. The
intentional deception presupposes the existence of a
dominant motive of the person making the inducement.
Such inducement should have led the person deceived or
induced to do or omit to do anything which he would not
have done or omitted to do if he were not deceived. The
further requirement is that such an act or omission should
have caused damage or harm to body, mind, reputation or
property.
7. As mentioned above, Section 415 has two parts. While in
the first part, the person must “dishonestly” or
“fraudulently” induce the complainant to deliver any
property; in the second part, the person should
intentionally induce the complainant to do or omit to do a
thing. That is to say, in the first part, inducement must be
dishonest or fraudulent. In the second part, the
inducement should be intentional. As observed by this
Court in Jaswantrai Manilal Akhaney v. State of Bombay [AIR
1956 SC 575: 1956 Cri LJ 1116: 1956 SCR 483], a guilty
intention is an essential ingredient of the offence of
cheating. In order, therefore, to secure the conviction of a
person for the offence of cheating, “mens rea” on the part
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of that person must be established. It was also observed in
Mahadeo Prasad v. State of W.B. [AIR 1954 SC 724: 1954 Cri LJ
1806] that in order to constitute the offence of cheating,
.
the intention to deceive should be in existence at the time
when the inducement was offered.
8. Thus, so far as the second part of Section 415 is
concerned, “property”, at no stage, is involved. Here, it is
the doing of an act or omission to do an act by the
complainant, as a result of intentional inducement by the
of
accused, which is material. Such inducement should result
in the doing of an act or omission to do an act as a result of
which the person concerned should have suffered or was
likely to suffer damage or harm in body, mind, reputation
rt
or property. In an old decision of the Allahabad High Court
in Empress v. Sheoram [(1882) 2 AWN 237], it was held by
Mahmood, J.:
“That to palm off a young woman as belonging to a
caste different to the one to which she really belongs,with the object of obtaining money, amounts to the
offence of cheating by personation as defined in
Section 416 of the Penal Code, 1860, which must beread in the light of the preceding Section 415.”
16. In the present case, there are no averments in the FIR
that any representation was made by the petitioner to the
informant, which led the informant to supply the apple to the
petitioner. The informant’s simple case is that he had supplied
the apple to the petitioner and other apple traders, and they had
not made the payment to him. It was rightly submitted on behalf
of the petitioner that this was a dispute regarding the payment of
money and does not involve any criminality.
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17. It was laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in
Anukul Singh v. State of U.P., 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2060, that
.
criminal proceedings cannot be used for enforcing civil rights. It
was observed: –
17. This Court has, in a long line of decisions, deprecated
the tendency to convert civil disputes into criminalof
proceedings. In Indian Oil Corporation v. NEPC India Ltd.
(2006) 6 SCC 736, it was held that criminal law cannot be
used as a tool to settle scores in commercial or contractual
matters, and that such misuse amounts to abuse of process.
rt
xxxxx
10. While on this issue, it is necessary to take notice
of a growing tendency in business circles to convert
purely civil disputes into criminal cases. This is
obviously on account of a prevalent impression that
civil law remedies are time-consuming and do not
adequately protect the interests of lenders/creditors.
Such a tendency is seen in several family disputes,
also leading to an irretrievable breakdown of
marriages/families. There is also an impression that
if a person could somehow be entangled in a criminal
prosecution, there is a likelihood of imminent
settlement. Any effort to settle civil disputes and
claims, which do not involve any criminal offence, by
applying pressure through criminal prosecution
should be deprecated and discouraged.”
18. Similarly, in Inder Mohan Goswami v. State of Uttaranchal
(2007) 12 SCC 1: AIR 2008 SC 251, it was emphasised that
criminal prosecution must not be permitted as an
instrument of harassment or private vendetta. In Ganga
Dhar Kalita v. State of Assam (2015) 9 SCC 647, this Court
again reiterated that criminal complaints in respect of
property disputes of a civil nature, filed solely to harass the
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accused or to exert pressure in civil litigation, constitute an
abuse of process.
19. Most recently, in Shailesh Kumar Singh @ Shailesh R.
.
Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh 2025 INSC 869, this Court
disapproved the practice of using criminal proceedings as a
substitute for civil remedies, observing that money
recovery cannot be enforced through criminal prosecution
where the dispute is essentially civil. The Court cautioned
High Courts not to direct settlements in such matters but to
apply the settled principles in Bhajan Lal. The following
of
paragraphs are relevant in this context:
“9. What we have been able to understand is that
there is an oral agreement between the parties. The
rt
Respondent No. 4 might have parted with some
money in accordance with the oral agreement, and it
may be that the appellant, herein, owes a particularamount to be paid to the Respondent No. 4. However,
the question is whether, prima facie, any offence of
cheating could be said to have been committed by theappellant.
10. How many times are the High Courts to be
reminded that to constitute an offence of cheating,there has to be something more than prima facie on
record to indicate that the intention of the accusedwas to cheat the complainant right from the
inception. The plain reading of the FIR does not
disclose any element of criminality.
11. The entire case is squarely covered by a recent
pronouncement of this Court in the case of “Delhi
Race Club (1940) Limited v. State of Uttar Pradesh“,
(2024) 10 SCC 690. In the said decision, the entire law
as to what constitutes cheating and criminal breach
of trust, respectively, has been exhaustively
explained. It appears that this very decision was
relied upon by the learned counsel appearing for the
petitioner before the High Court. However, instead of
looking into the matter on its own merits, the High::: Downloaded on – 09/03/2026 20:33:44 :::CIS
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2026:HHC:6246Court thought fit to direct the petitioner to go for
mediation and that too by making payment of Rs.
25,00,000/- to the 4th respondent as a condition
.
precedent. We fail to understand why the High Court
should undertake such an exercise. The High Court
may either allow the petition, saying that no offence
is disclosed or may reject the petition, saying that no
case for quashing is made out. Why should the High
Court attempt to help the complainant to recover the
amount due and payable by the accused? It is for the
of
Civil Court or Commercial Court, as the case may be,
to look into a suit that may be filed for recovery of
money or in any other proceedings, be it under the
Arbitration Act, 1996 or under the provisions of the
rt
IB Code, 2016.
12. Why the High Court was not able to understand
that the entire dispute between the parties is of a civil
nature.
13. We also enquired with the learned counsel
appearing for the Respondent No. 4 whether his
client has filed any civil suit or has initiated any other
proceedings for recovery of the money. It appears
that no civil suit has been filed for the recovery of
money to date. Money cannot be recovered, more
particularly, in a civil dispute between the parties by
filing a First Information Report and seeking the help
of the Police. This amounts to abuse of the process of
law.
14. We could have said many things, but we refrain
from observing anything further. If the Respondent
No. 4 has to recover a particular amount, he may file
a civil suit or seek any other appropriate remedy
available to him in law. He cannot be permitted to
take recourse to criminal proceedings.
15. We are quite disturbed by the manner in which the
High Court has passed the impugned order. The High
Court first directed the appellant to pay Rs.
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25,00,000/- to the Respondent No. 4 and thereafter
directed him to appear before the Mediation and
Conciliation Centre for the purpose of settlement.
.
That’s not what is expected of a High Court to do in a
Writ Petition filed under Article 226 of the
Constitution or a miscellaneous application filed
under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code,
1973, for quashing of FIR or any other criminal
proceedings. What is expected of the High Court is to
look into the averments and the allegations levelled
of
in the FIR, along with the other material on record, if
any. The High Court seems to have forgotten the
well-settled principles as enunciated in the decision
of this Court in the “State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal“,
rt
1992 Supp (1) SCC 335.
18. In the present case, an attempt is being made to
convert a civil dispute regarding the payment of money into a
criminal case, which is impermissible.
19. Hon’ble Supreme Court held in Kapil Agarwal vs.
Sanjay Sharma, (2021) 5 SCC 524: 2021 SCC OnLine SC 154 that
criminal proceedings cannot be permitted to become a weapon of
harassment. It was observed:
“18.1. As observed and held by this Court in a catena of
decisions, inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC
and/or under Article 226 of the Constitution is designed to
achieve a salutary purpose that criminal proceedings ought
not to be permitted to degenerate into weapons of
harassment. When the Court is satisfied that criminal
proceedings amount to an abuse of process of law or that it
amounts to bringing pressure upon the accused, in the
exercise of inherent powers, such proceedings can be
quashed.”
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20. It was submitted that the petitioner had failed to pay
the money to the informant, which shows that his intention was
.
fraudulent to begin with. This submission cannot be accepted. It
was laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Satishchandra
Ratanlal Shah v. State of Gujarat, (2019) 9 SCC 148 : (2019) 3 SCC
(Cri) 697: 2019 SCC OnLine SC 196 that mere inability to return the
of
amount cannot give rise to a criminal prosecution for cheating
unless fraudulent or dishonest intention is shown right at the
rt
beginning of the transaction, as it is this mens rea which is the
crux of the offence. This position was reiterated in Ashok Kumar
Jain v. State of Gujarat, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 998, and it was held
that the fraudulent intention cannot be inferred by mere failure
to honour the contract. A similar view was taken in Kunti (supra),
Sarabjit Kaur (supra) and Rikhan Birani (supra). The informant
has filed the party’s ledger (Annexure R-1), which shows that the
money was being paid by the petitioner to the informant on
various dates, and in the absence of any evidence regarding the
fraudulent intention of the petitioner at the beginning, he cannot
be held liable for cheating simply because he was unable to fulfil
the terms and conditions of the contract.
21. No other point was urged.
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19
2026:HHC:6246
22. In view of the above, the continuation of the
proceedings qua the petitioner would amount to an abuse of the
.
process of the law. Hence, the present petition is allowed and FIR
No. 64 of 2023, dated 31.3.2023, registered at Police Station
Theog, District Shimla, H.P., for the commission of an offence
punishable under Section 420 of IPC. is ordered to be quashed qua
of
the petitioner.
23.
rt
Petition stands disposed of in the above terms, so also
pending miscellaneous applications, if any.
24. Parties are permitted to produce a copy of this
judgment, downloaded from the webpage of the High Court of
Himachal Pradesh, before the authorities concerned, and the said
authorities shall not insist on the production of a certified copy,
but if required, may verify passing of the order from the Website
of the High Court.
(Rakesh Kainthla)
Judge
9th March, 2026
(Nikita)
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