Can an FIR be registered after the chargesheet has been filed in a case? The Supreme Court in its latest judgment recently reiterated that the High Court has the power to quash an FIR even after the chargesheet has been filed under Section 482 of the CrPC if it feels that continuation of the proceedings would be an abuse of the legal process.
On August 28, a bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Ujjwal Bhuyan quashed the FIR and chargesheet filed against the in-laws and husband of the complainant woman in a case of cruelty under Section 498A of the IPC.
According to a report by Live Law, the court allowed the appeal filed by the complainant’s in-laws and husband against the Gujarat High Court’s refusal to quash the FIR. The complainant woman had filed an FIR against her husband and in-laws in 2002. She and her husband had divorced by mutual consent in 2004.
On 14 September 2011, the Gujarat High Court had rejected the plea filed by the woman’s husband and in-laws to quash the case as the investigating officer had filed a chargesheet in the case and a prima facie case had been made out against the appellants. Against that decision of the High Court, the appellants had approached the Supreme Court and filed the present appeal.
The Supreme Court observed that despite notice being served on May 30, 2023, the complainant woman did not appear in the court to oppose the appeal, as mentioned in the report dated December 2, 2023.
The Supreme Court observed that the complainant and her husband had broken their marital relationship in 2004 and both were well settled in their respective lives. The court observed that the complainant woman did not want to disrupt her marital life and had not participated in the present court proceedings.
The Supreme Court also observed that the allegations made in the FIR were vague and general in nature. Hence, the Court questioned whether the FIR and the chargesheet should be proceeded with for trial merely because there was a prima facie case against the appellants.
Citing several precedents, including Abhishek vs State of Madhya Pradesh, the apex court emphasised that the High Court has the power to quash an FIR under Section 482 of the CrPC even after the chargesheet has been filed. Therefore, the Supreme Court exercised its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution and put an end to the long-standing dispute between the parties by quashing the FIR, chargesheet and all other proceedings arising out of it.
