WHETHER THE QUOSHING OF FIR IS MAINTAINAIBLE IN THE COURT

OF LAW?
The respondent has appeared before the Hon’ble High Court in response to the
Petition filed by Krishna Kumar for quashing his FIR under section 482 of CrPC.
Section 482 of CrPC reads as “Nothing in this Code shall be deemed to limit or
affect the inherent powers of High Court to make such orders as may be
necessary to give effect to any order under this Code , or to prevent abuse of
the process of any court or otherwise to secure the ends of justice.”FIR is
merely an instititution of investigation not an institution of criminal
proceeding.

 In the case of Pratibha Rani vs Suraj Kumar , it was held by a three judge
bench of SC that inherent powers of high courts to quash proceeding
under Section 482 of CrPC must be exercised very sparingly. It was also
held that where allegations in the complaint or FIR makes out a prima
facie case of proceedings against the accused in that event complainant
is entitled to an opportunity to prove his case and in such circumstances
quashing of proceedings at the very behest is not justified. Further
observation in this behalf have been that the High Court while
exercising jurisdiction under the said provision has to proceed entirely
on the basis of the allegations in the complaint or the accompanying
document . The High Court has no jurisdiction to examine the
correctness or otherwise of those allegations.
 The SCC judgement of Janta Dal vs H.S. Chaudhary, para 130 and 135
reads respectively as –
.T he criminal courts are clothed with inherent power to make such orders as may be
necessary for the ends of justice. Such power though unrestricted and undefined did
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. The powers possessed by the High Court under section
482 of the code are very wide and the very plenitude of the power requires great
caution in its exercise. Courts must be careful to see that its decision in exercise of
this power is based on sound principles.
.The inherent power conferred by Section 482 should not be exercised to stifle a
legitimate prosecution. The High Court being the highest Court of a State should
normally refrain from giving a premature decision in a case wherein the entire facts
are extremely incomplete and hazy, more so when the evidence has not been
collected and produced before the Court and the issues involved whether factual or
legal are of great magnitude and cannot be seen in their true perspective without
sufficient material. Of course, no hard and fast rule can be laid down in regard to the
cases in which the High Court will exercise its extraordinary jurisdiction of quashing
the proceedings at any stage.