ARVIND BHARATBHUSHAN AGARWAL AND ANRversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANR

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Amberkar

                       IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                   CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION


                               WRIT PETITION NO. 1581 OF 2026

           Arvind Bharatbhushan Agarwal & Anr.              .. Petitioners
                       Versus
           The State of Maharashtra & Anr.                  .. Respondents
                                       ....................
            Mr. Bakul Bhosale a/w Mr. Rajeev R. Chaudhary, Advocates for
              Petitioners
            Ms. Rajeshree V. Newton, APP for State
            Mr. Himanshu Jha, Advocate for Respondent No. 2
                                           ...................
                                          CORAM : MILIND N. JADHAV, J.
                                          DATE          : AUGUST 31, 2026
           P. C.:

           1.       Heard Mr. Bhosale, learned Advocate for Petitioners; Ms.

           Newton, learned APP for State and Mr. Jha, learned Advocate for

           Respondent No. 2.

           2.       Present Petition is filed under the provisions of Section 482 of

           the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 / 528 of Bharatiya Nagarik

           Suraksha Sanhita seeking to quash and set aside the F.I.R. bearing No.

           1613/2024 under Sections 3(5), 316(5), 318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 338,

           340(2), 351(2) r/w 34 of the BNS against the Petitioners dated

           16/10/2024.

           3.       Parties are before the Court in view of the fact that there was a

           commercial dispute between the parties, which led to the filing of the

           FIR dated 16-10-2024. Parties have now reconciled their dispute and

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all claims have been settled. Consent affidavit filed by respondent No.

2 dated 24.06.2026 is taken on record. Complainant is present in

court. I have interacted with him. He confirms his consent affidavit

and urges the Court to quash the proceedings.

4.       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

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.


5.       In State of Harayana vs Bhajan Lal1 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


1    1992 AIR 604

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has furthered 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.


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

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”.


7.    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

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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, 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.


8.    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


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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.


9.    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.25,000/- towards the

corpus of A.K. Munshi Yojana’s J.T. Sheth Mandbuddhi Vikas Kendra, a

Special School 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. Petitioners are


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           present in Court and through their learned Advocates agree to pay the

           aforesaid costs amount to the charity.


           10.          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 clauses ‘a’ which read thus:-

                                    “(a)    That the Hon'ble Court may be pleased to quash and set aside
                                           the F.I.R. bearing No. 1613/2024 under section 3(5), 316(5),
                                           318(4), 336(2), 336(3), 338, 340(2), 351(2) r/w 34 of the BNS
                                           against the Petitioners dated 16/10/2024;

           11.            List the Petition for compliance of the order regarding payment

           of costs on 15th September, 2026.


           12.          Advocate for Petitioners shall remain present and show

           compliance on behalf of Petitioners on the returnable date for

           compliance. If they do 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/parties to both Petitions.


           13.          Writ Petition is allowed and disposed.



Amberkar                                                           [ MILIND N. JADHAV, J. ]
                      Digitally signed
                      by RAVINDRA
           RAVINDRA MOHAN
           MOHAN    AMBERKAR
           AMBERKAR Date:
                    2026.09.03
                      17:57:15 +0530




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