The dispute which is under the purview of civil nature has lately been labelled as a criminal offence as proclaimed by the Supreme Court as observed by it in a judgment that was delivered a few weeks ago while it crushed the criminal proceedings that were initiated against a purchaser of the property.
The bench of Justices J.K Maheshwari and Indira Banerjee observed that during consideration of a petition that sought the crushing of criminal proceedings, the High Court was of the opinion that an examination of whether a complaint is a criminal offence or not depends highly on the nature of the allegation in question and whether the essential ingredients of a criminal offence are existent or not.
Section 482 was originally designed in order to achieve the purpose of making sure that criminal proceedings are not allowed to turn into weapons of harassment, is what the court reiterated. In this particular case, an FIR was lodged against the power of attorney of the petitioner and the purchaser of the property. Upon examining the FIR, the court was of the observation that the criminal proceedings are being taken and are using it as a weapon of harassment against the purchaser.
