Supreme Court Quashes Criminal Proceedings In A Dispute Of Forgery Between Mother And Son

The Supreme Court exercising its power under Article 142 of the Constitution, has quashed criminal proceedings initiated in a dispute of forgery between the mother on one side and the son and grandson on the other side.

The Bench of Justice M.R. Shah and Justice Krishna Murari observed that “considering the material on record and more particularly the opinion/report of the FSL produced at Annexure P-2 and the disputed documents D3 and D5 and the signatures of the complainant compared with her signatures on documents marked as D1, D2, D4 and D6 and looking to the relationship between the appellants and the original complainant of son, grandson and the mother/grandmother, we are of the opinion that to continue the criminal proceedings against the appellants would not be in the larger interest of the parties.”

Advocate Saif Zia appeared for the appellant and Senior Advocate Siddhartha Dave appeared for the original complainant.

In this case, the appeal was preferred against the order of the Gujarat High Court whereby the High Court had refused to quash the criminal proceedings against the appellants accused.

It was alleged that appellant no.1, who was the son of the original complainant, had forged the signature of the complainant and had included the name of appellant No.2 – grandson in the joint bank account of appellant No.1 and the complainant and thereafter appellant No.2 based on the bank slips withdrew a total sum of Rs. 10,50,000/- from the said joint bank account.

The Court said that considering the fact that the dispute was between the mother on the one side and the son and grandson on the other side, and the fact that the appellants had agreed to return the entire amount of Rs. 10,50,000/- with 12% simple interest, it was in larger interest to quash the criminal proceedings.

Accordingly, the Court allowed the appeal and directed the appellant to pay the total amount with 12% interest within a period of one week from the date of the decision.

Cause Title- Hemantbhai Balvantbhai Patel and Another v. The State of Gujarat and Another

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