Supreme Court Reverses High Court's Quashing of Forgery Charges, Allows Criminal Proceedings to Continue.


10 September 2024 Criminal Appeals & Suspension of Sentence >> Criminal Law   |   Forgery >> Criminal Law  

The appellant filed an SLP challenging the High Court’s order that quashed criminal proceedings against the respondents, who were accused of filing forged documents in a civil suit. The High Court had relied on the assumption that the civil litigation had not attained finality, but this was disputed by the appellant, who pointed to a judgment from 09.04.2021 where the Subordinate Judge had dismissed one civil suit while allowing another.

 

 

The Court observed that the High Court had made an error by assuming the civil litigation was unresolved and by incorrectly holding that no criminal proceedings for forgery could be initiated until the civil case reached a final decision. The Court referred to the Constitutional Bench decision in Iqbal Singh Marwah & Another v. Meenakshi Marwah & Another (2005), which held that forgery of documents used in court proceedings can be prosecuted even before the civil case reaches a final conclusion. It ruled that Section 195(1)(b)(ii) of the CrPC, which restricts the prosecution of forgery related to documents filed in court, does not apply to forged documents prepared before being submitted to the court.

The Court, therefore, set aside the High Court’s order, allowing the criminal proceedings to continue against the respondents. The appeal was allowed, but the Court clarified that its order did not address the merits of the civil dispute.


Section 195., Code of Criminal Procedure - 1973  

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973