Yes. It is possible to quash a First Inspection Report filed by Police in any High Courts but it is not easy to quash it after 13 April 2021 of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble High Court has inherent powers to quash an FIR under Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedures and conferred by the rights under Article 226 of our Indian Constitution. Let me explain to you in detail…

Guideline for FIR Quashing in High Court:

1. Inherent powers do not confer an arbitrary jurisdiction on the High Court to act according to whim or caprice and the statutory power has to be exercised sparingly, with circumspection and in the rarest of rare cases;
2. Power of the police to investigate into a cognizable offence is ordinarily not to be interfered with by the judiciary;
3. Save in exceptional case where non-interference would result in miscarriage of Justice, the Court and the judicial process should not interfere at the stage of investigation of offences;
4. In case a police officer transgresses the circumscribed limits and improperly and illegally exercises his powers in relation to the process of investigation, then the Court has the necessary powers to consider the nature and extent of the breach and pass appropriate orders;
5. The High Court being the highest Court of a State should normally refrain from giving a prima facie decision in a case where the entire facts are incomplete and hazy, more so when the evidence has not been collected and produced before the Court;
6. The High Court has no inherent powers to interfere with the investigation, unless it is found that the allegations do not disclose the commission of a cognizable offence or the power of investigation is being exercised by the police malafidely;
7. The High Court should be extremely cautious and slow to interfere with the investigation and/or trial of criminal cases and should not stall the investigation and/or prosecution except when it is convinced beyond any manner of doubt that the FIR does not disclose commission of an offence.
8. The allegations contained in the FIR do not constitute any cognizable offence or that the prosecution is barred by law or the High Court is convinced that it is necessary to interfere to prevent abuse of the process of the Court

Stages of Quashing an FIR

• Interim Prayer to all criminal until the disposal of the pending case at HC
• Trial conducted at High Court with Prayer

Police Atrocities in India and High Courts inherent power to stay criminal proceedings

The High Courts across received en numbers of quash petitions under Section 482 of Cr. PC has carefully examined the petitions against the guidelines as stated above, whereas they have tried the case in High Courts and subsequently issued interim orders to stall the investigation progress. There are many Indian police officers who continuously abuse the public by fake cases by suppressing the no cognizable offense and trying those for cognizable offenses by invoking IPC in all courts.

The Satan Kulam police case was known to all India about police brutality, arbitrary proceeding but there were several other cases brought before the courts and not found media attention yet, but found justice at the earliest and securing the public from police arbitrarily criminal actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRFdFtuRTuU

The merchants, students, parents, patients have been alleged under criminal cases throughout the country and India has been shocked by the police atrocities for decades. The Human Rights Commissions has received millions of cases against Police throughout the decades. The High Court continues to investigate the investigation conducted by the police department in the interest of justice while receiving any Quash Petition.

Scenario after the Hon’ble Supreme Court Judgment on 13 April 2021:

Those orders has stopped the police abusing the process of law against innocents across the country and Police atrocities have instantly been identified, reviewed and rectified by the Apex courts. But however, there are some disadvantages found where some criminals take advantage of stalling the investigation process of police using the aforesaid provisions in the Hon’ble court.

In this situation, there was a judgment from the Hon’ble Supreme Court in M/s Neeharika Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd vs State of Maharashtra, whereas the aforesaid judgment was ultimately binding for all other courts in India, under Common Law procedures and Stare Decisis Doctrine.

https://main.sci.gov.in/supremecourt/2020/21426/21426_2020_36_1502_27516_Judgement_13-Apr-2021.pdf

The Hon’ble Supreme Court has set aside the Interim order of Delhi High Court and has directed the Registry to forward the copy of the High Court Judgments to Chief Justice of India and recommended the High Courts for issuing a detailed reason while passing any such orders.

Obviously, this will definitely have an impact on the criminal procedures across the country and thus, stopping the criminal procedures are not very much complicated now unless you have a damn good lawyer to bring all the valid evidence and demand the court for Justice.

If you find your case is fit for quashing as stated in the article, bring all the facts without leaving single evidence to Hon’ble Court and demand for justice. In case, the High Court is not ready to take the case, bring these matters before the Supreme Court under Article 32 of our Constitution and find your justice.

Written By: Ravikumar Vellingiri. B.A.LL.B (Hons) - Social worker & Human Rights Pledge
Email: [email protected]