SHARAD BABURAO BOTALJE AND ORSversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANR

                                                                                   158. IA 2751-2026.doc



                                  IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                        CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

                                       INTERIM APPLICATION NO. 2751 OF 2026
                                                        IN
                                          WRIT PETITION NO. 4192 OF 2023

                      Sharad Baburao Botalje & ors.                            .Applicants
ANAND
SUDHAKAR              IN THE MATTER BETWEEN
SUDAME
Digitally signed by   Sharad Baburao Botalje & ors.                            .Petitioners
ANAND SUDHAKAR
SUDAME
Date: 2026.09.21
21:13:01 +0530
                                       Vs.

                      The State of Maharashtra & anr.                          .Respondents

                      Ms. Surbhi Agrawal, Advocate, for the Applicants/Petitioners
                      Mr. Heanike Vyas i/b. Mr. Shubham Kahite, Advocates, for Respondent
                      No. 2

                                              CORAM : MILIND N. JADHAV, J.

                                              DATE      : 11.09.2026
                      P. C.

                      1.       Heard         Ms.     Agrawal,        learned   Counsel        for   the

                      Applicants/Petitioners and Mr. Vyas, learned Counsel for Respondent

                      No. 2.

                      2.       I.A.No. 2751 of 2026 stands allowed and the order of dismissal

                      of the Petition due to non-prosecution dated 05.12.2023 stands

                      quashed and set aside. The Petition stands restored back to the record

                      and file of the Court forthwith and is taken up for hearing and disposal.

                      The Interim Application stands disposed of.

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3.      The Writ Petition seeks consent quashing of the FIR and Criminal

prosecution against the Petitioners on the grounds of cheating and

breach of trust. The parties were having a business relationship and

had exchanged amounts but due to certain losses incurred by the

Petitioners, the amounts remained unpaid. This led to the filing of the

Criminal complaint and FIR. Parties have now reconciled their disputes

and intimate the Court jointly that they have filed that the Complainant

has received and settled the receipt of the outstanding amounts and

has therefore filed the Consent Affidavit. The Consent Affidavit dated

10.09.2026 is taken on record. Complainant is appearing on VC,

whereas the Petitioners are before the Court. I have interacted with the

parties. The Petition, therefore, deserves to be allowed.

4.      After filing of the Petition, Charge-sheet has already been filed. It

is numbered as PW/2401532/2023 before the Borivali Court is also

quashed and set aside as a consequence of allowing this Petition.

5.      Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 conferred

inherent powers on High Courts to pass such orders as are justified to

give effect to any order in the Court, prevent abuse of process of any

Court or secure the ends of justice. In the BNSS this provision stands

incorporated with Section 528 which substantially reproduces the

language and intent of Section 482 of the CRPC, 1973 High Courts


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invoke this provision to step in where cases have been instituted with

malafide motives or to harass the accused person thereby avoiding

procedural harassment. It empowers Court to dismiss FIRs or criminal

proceedings if there is no prima facie case or evidence against the

accused person/s or if orders are made in violation of the principles of

natural justice. The exercise of such powers under Section 482 of CRPC

and now Section 528 of BNSS remains discretionary and varies from

case to case.

6.      In State of Harayana vs Bhajan Lal 1 the Supreme Court laid

down model categories and guidelines in paragraph No. 102 of the said

judgment in which the FIRs can be quashed. The Supreme Court has

further asserted that power under Section 482 is an acknowledgment

of "powers inherent" and not the source of powers additional. It has

held that even non compoundable offences can be quashed where

necessary. It has held that High Courts have to decide whether the

prosecution of an offence would further or be against the interest of

justice. It is also held that grievous offences such as murder, rape, and

dacoity cannot ordinarily be quashed even after settlement because

they involve societal implication.


7.      In the above context, when parties settle their private dispute or


1
     1992 AIR 604

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the lis between them is purely civil and commercial or matrimonial and

the offence is not heinous or does not impact the society at large, the

Court can consider such request. In such a case awarding costs for

putting the criminal law into motion on the act of the accused persons

and thereafter both parties seeking quashing of proceedings by

consent, in my opinion, can be considered by Court which can impose

costs on the parties, especially so in matters coming before the Court

by “consent quashing”.


8.      For above levy of costs the legal principle rests on the logic that

criminal law cannot be used as a bargaining chip or a tool for private

settlements after draining the State and judicial resources. In simple

words, Courts cannot be used as a recovery mechanism to settle scores

and/or bring the parties into subjugation. I am of the firm opinion that

imposition of costs in consent quashing matters is required to be levied

for three main reasons viz., wastage of public resources, consumption

of valuable judicial time and for deterrence against vexatious litigation.

This is because after criminal machinery is set into motion, the Police

Department is forced to take cognizance, conduct investigations, attend

courts, deploy personnel, collect evidence and draft chargesheets, all

using public funds/ public exchequer. Equally substantial judicial time

of the Trial Courts and Sessions Courts is wasted for handling a case,

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presentation of a case, issuance of summons, scheduling of trial dates,

appointment of prosecutors and their fees, etc. and ultimately if

consent quashing is allowed such judicial time stands completely

wasted, which could have otherwise been used for genuine Trial Court

matters/ litigation in one way such matters result in clogging the legal

system and lead to humongous pendency which becomes difficult to

tackle.


9.      Another aspect to consider for imposing costs is that it curbs the

growing trend of filing strategically exaggerated criminal complaints

(especially matrimonial or commercial disputes) simply to force

financial and legal settlements. In a given case made out on merits of

the matter, even the Complainant can be put to costs while considering

a quashing Petition purely on merits depending upon the facts of each

case before Court. In some strong circumstances, even the State

machinery can be put to costs if a purely civil dispute between parties

strongly emanating from the facts on record is registered as criminal

case and given the flavor of criminality. This Court is also equally

conscious about not imposing costs blindly or mechanically if a

particular party is not found to be remiss or at explicit fault for abusing

the law, as also conscious about heinous offences impacting the society

at large while considering consent quashing.

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10.     Applying the aforesaid principles to the facts of the present case,

I am of the opinion that the Petitioners, for their actions resulting in

the complainant invoking criminal proceedings and now both the

parties seeking quashing by consent, the Petitioners, should pay costs.

Hence, Petitioners are directed to pay costs of Rs. 15,000/- towards the

Corpus of     A.K. Munshi Yojana a trust which runs medical centres,

vocational training centres and which also runs a Special School called

J.T. Sheth Mandbuddhi Vikas Kendra, imparting education and training

to the needs of 150 special children in the field of Education (Classes

for 6 to 18 years), early intervention (upto 6 years) and vocational

training (18 years above) having its school address and building at A.K.

Munshi Yojana Chowk, 3rd Panjarapole Lane, C.P. Tank, Mumbai – 400

004 [Contact Nos. 22425513 / 22423654] registered under the Society

Registration Act, XXI of 1980 under No. : 387/81 GBBSD and the

Public Trust Act, XXIX of 1950 under No. F-6809. RCI Reg. No. 0163

within a period of two weeks from the date of uploading of this order.

The Petitioners are present in Court and through their learned

Advocate agree to pay the aforesaid costs amount to the charity.


11.     In view of the above matter, the present Petition deserves to be

allowed subject to payment of costs as directed herein above. It is so

allowed in terms of prayer clause ‘a’ which reads thus:-

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           “a)   The Hon’ble High Court be pleased to quash the First Information
                 Report bearing No. 766 of 2021 dated 07.12.2021 registered with
                 Charkop Police Station, Mumbai City.”

12.     List the Writ Petition for compliance of the order regarding

payment of costs on 28.09.2026.


13.     Advocate for the Petitioners shall remain present and show

compliance on behalf of the Petitioners on the returnable date for

compliance. If he does not remain present and there is non-compliance

of this order, Court will pass appropriate order for recall of this order,

which shall be noted by the Petitioners.


14.     Writ Petition is allowed and disposed.



                                                     (MILIND N. JADHAV, J.)




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