Chargesheet Cannot Be Based On Bald Assertions Of Connivance: Supreme Court
Live LawsThe Supreme Court recently held that offences in the chargesheet cannot be based on bald assertions of connivance. The Supreme Court referred to the ample judgments interpreting Section 197 namely Manohar Nath Kaul v. State of Jammu & Kashmir, Shambhoo Nath Misra v. State of U.P. Having considered the application of Section 197, the Court opined that the arguments of the Appellant that he did the act in his official duty would be covered by Section 83 of the Madhya Pradesh Girha Nirman Mandal Adhiniyam, 1972. It referred to Vijay Kumar Ghai v. State of W.B, which observed that to establish the offence of cheating in inducing the delivery of property, the representation made by the person was false ; the accused had prior knowledge that the representation made was false ; the false representation was made with dishonest intention in order to deceive and act where the accused induced the person to deliver the property or to perform or to abstain from any act which the person would have not done or had otherwise committed. Based on the State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, which held the criteria for quashing the FIR on the face value and if accepted in its entirety does not prima facie constitute an offence or does not disclose a cognisance offence, the Court set aside the judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.