ARJUN KUNAL KHANNAversusTHE STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANR.

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                                 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
                                       CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

                                         WRIT PETITION NO. 4591 OF 2026

                      Arjun Kunal Khanna                                    .Petitioner

                                 Vs.

                      The State of Maharashtra & anr.                       .Respondents
ANAND
SUDHAKAR              Mr. Zulfiquar Memon a/w. Mr. Parvez Memon, Mr. Ravi Mishra,
SUDAME                Mr. Mahesh Ahire, Valentina Sampson, Soumyajoti Lodh & Mr. Manav
Digitally signed by
ANAND SUDHAKAR
SUDAME
                      Bhat i/b. MZM Legal LLP, Advocates, for the Petitioner
Date: 2026.09.19
11:14:03 +0530        Mr. Y. M. Nakhwa, APP, for Respondent No. 1 – State
                      Mr. Satish Maneshinde, Senior Advocate a/w. Ms. Namita Maneshinde,
                      for Respondent No. 2

                                             CORAM : MILIND N. JADHAV, J.

                                             DATE   : 11.09.2026
                      P. C.

                      1.      Mentioned out of turn.

                      2.      Heard    Mr.    Memon,   learned    Counsel    for   the    Petitioner,

                      Mr. Nakhwa, learned APP for Respondent No. 1 and Mr. Maneshinde,

                      learned Senior Advocate for Respondent No. 2.

                      3.      The Petitioner before me is a young offender 19 years old and

                      the parties have executed Consent Terms dated 04.09.2026. Affidavit of

                      the Respondent No.2/Complainant dated 04.09.2026, who is also 19

                      years old is placed before me. I have perused the same. The issue

                      erupted at the party with common friends. Be that as it may, the bright


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future and prospect in life of the parties should not be curbed because

of the Criminal proceeding. Both parties are present in Court. I have

interacted with them and they both have requested the Court to quash

the present proceedings. In addition to grant of prayer clause (a), Mr.

Memon, learned Counsel for the Petitioner in his usual fair mindedness

persuade the Court to consider quashing the further action taken by the

prosecution of issuing the LOC qua the Petitioner. Any consequential

action of issuance of NOC qua the Petitioner will also have to be

quashed and set aside by this Court so as to ensure that the Petitioner

will have no hindrance in his further studies as requested by him.

Registry is directed to accept Vakalatnama of the Advocate for

Respondent No. 2 within a period of two weeks from today.

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


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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 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.


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


1
     1992 AIR 604

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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

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

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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

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 Petitioner, for his actions resulting in the

complainant invoking criminal proceedings and now both the parties
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seeking quashing by consent, the Petitioner, should pay costs. Hence,

Petitioner is 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 Petitioner is present in Court and through his learned Advocate

agrees 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 clause ‘a’ which read thus:-

           “a)   This Hon’ble Court be pleased to quash and set aside the FIR
                 bearing CR No. 446 of 2026 registered at Dadar Police Station for
                 offences punishable under Section 115(2), 117(2), 3(5), 351(3),
                 352 of BNS, against the Petitioner only”



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

payment of costs on 28.09.2026.


12.     Advocate for the Petitioner shall remain present and show

compliance on behalf of the Petitioner 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 Petitioner.


13.     Writ Petition is allowed and disposed.




                                                 (MILIND N. JADHAV, J.)




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