INTRODUCTION
The Supreme Court of India set aside the order of the High Court of Rajasthan in denying Anticipatory Bail for a couple in a Civil Case in which the court unnecessarily applied criminal law to pure civil matters.
BACKGROUND OF THE CASE
The Rajasthan High Court denied an anticipatory bail of a couple who were alleged in not repaying balance amount for a shipment of plywood. An FIR was filed against them under Sections 420, 406,and 120B of Indian Penal Code. The couples filed an appeal against the order of the court. The complainant argued that the only 3.5 Lakh has been paid, almost 12.5L is still unpaid. The above case is a pure form of civil matter but the court effectively transforms it into criminal matters.
JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVE
The appeals were heard by the Justices B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan of the Supreme Court.They started by saying that “ Today we are not losing our cool, only we are controlling like anything, the medicine is to laugh”. Justice Pardiwala reacted to the above case by pointing out the Allahabad High Court’s recent controversy involving himself and Justice Prashant Kumar.
LEGAL ASPECTS
The Court mentioned that there is no chance of Criminal Breach of Trust as once there was a sales transaction. In this case the Supreme Court mainly highlights that the only chance of allegation is that of cheating. The Court also pointed out that from all these factors in this case it was clear that according to the state the duty of the police mechanism is to recover the due payments.
CONCLUSION
The Supreme Court of India criticized the Rajasthan High Court’s Order of denial of Anticipatory Bail to the couples who anticipate the arrest on a civil case that turns into a criminal case. Here the case is pure civil matter and there is no need to misuse the criminal laws. The Court granted anticipatory bail to the couples.
AUTHOR DETAILS:
Aswathy S Menon, a law graduate from Mar Gregorios College of Law, Thiruvananthapuram, and Practicing as a lawyer at High Court of Kerala with over two years of experience in litigation, compliance, and legal research. She has contributed to legal content writing and worked on civil, criminal, and corporate matters, with particular interests in corporate governance, contract law, and dispute resolution.