key legal precedents and citations that support your submission that the complaint is a counterblast and an abuse of the process of law

 

Here are key legal precedents and citations that support your submission that the complaint is a counterblast and an abuse of the process of law, along with brief extracts you can include in your petition or oral submissions:

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1. State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal

Citation: 1992 Supp (1) SCC 335
Principle: The Supreme Court laid down illustrative categories under which criminal proceedings may be quashed under Section 482 CrPC.

Relevant Extract:

"Where a criminal proceeding is manifestly attended with mala fide and/or where the proceeding is maliciously instituted with an ulterior motive for wreaking vengeance on the accused and with a view to spite him due to private and personal grudge."

✅ Use this to argue that the complaint is a counterblast and intended to harass the petitioner with a malicious motive.

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2. Pepsi Foods Ltd. & Anr. v. Special Judicial Magistrate & Ors.

Citation: (1998) 5 SCC 749
Principle: The Supreme Court emphasized that criminal law should not be used as a tool for harassment.

Relevant Extract:

"Criminal law cannot be set into motion as a matter of course. It is not that the complainant has to bring only two witnesses to support his allegations to have the criminal law set into motion. The Magistrate has to carefully scrutinize the evidence brought on record and may even himself put questions to the complainant to elicit answers to find out the truth."

✅ Use this to support your contention that frivolous or retaliatory complaints should be carefully scrutinized and not permitted to proceed without proper basis.

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3. Madhavrao Jiwajirao Scindia v. Sambhajirao Chandrojirao Angre

Citation: (1988) 1 SCC 692
Principle: The Court must consider whether the allegations made in the complaint are absurd and inherently improbable.

Relevant Extract:

"The legal process should not be misused for settling scores or as a weapon of harassment. When the allegations made in the FIR or complaint are so absurd and inherently improbable that no prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused, then the Court may exercise its inherent powers."

✅ Use this where the complaint appears absurd or improbable and filed with a vengeful motive.

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4. Kapil Agarwal & Ors. v. Sanjay Sharma & Ors.

Citation: (2021) 5 SCC 524
Principle: Courts should intervene where criminal proceedings are instituted as a pressure tactic or to abuse process.

Relevant Extract:

"The High Court should not hesitate to exercise its jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC to quash the proceedings where the same are manifestly attended with mala fide and instituted with an ulterior motive."

✅ This reinforces the argument that courts must nip such abuse in the bud.

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5. G. Sagar Suri v. State of U.P.

Citation: (2000) 2 SCC 636
Principle: Filing criminal complaints to exert pressure in civil disputes is not permissible.

Relevant Extract:

"It is to be seen if a matter, which is essentially of a civil nature, has been given a cloak of a criminal offence. Criminal proceedings should not be permitted to degenerate into a weapon of harassment."

✅ If there’s a civil background or earlier complaint, this supports the abuse of criminal law theory.