When a criminal activity takes place anywhere, the aggrieved party can reach out to the nearest police station and inform the station in charge about the incident. The Station in charge has a duty to record the statement of the complainant and take further action on the case. This written report is called the First Information Report and is often abbreviated as FIR. Not always the facts stated by the complainant are true. Sometimes people also file FIR based on false facts out of hatred or for any other reason. In such cases, the aggrieved party has the option to quash the FIR based on valid grounds which are mentioned below. This is called the Quashing of FIR which means to declare the FIR as invalid.

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Prevailing Law

Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure talks about the high court's inherent powers. It empowers the high court to take any decision which prevents the abuse of the process of court and serves justice to the aggrieved. In the case of FIR, the accused can utilise the provision and seek relief from the High Court under section 482 of CrPC. For the quashing of FIR, the court will appreciate the facts of the case and if it finds that the injustice took place against the accused. And if the quashing of this FIR will secure justice for the party, then the high court can quash such a false FIR.

Competent Jurisdiction

To file the petition of quashing FIR. You need to address the correct court of law as per your jurisdiction otherwise the application will be rejected as not maintainable. The appropriate jurisdiction for the petition of quashing of FIR is High Court based on the concerned state. If the FIR you are seeking to quash is filed in a police station in Uttar Pradesh then the Allahabad High Court will be the right jurisdiction. Similarly, for other states, you need to reach out to respective High Courts.

What facts have to be considered?

The court needs to look into various details to find out whether the present FIR is valid or filed out of animosity or with malafide intention. Through various case laws, the court has clarified that there are two main principles which need to be looked at when quashing an FIR. These two major points of consideration are as follows-

• The FIR is an abuse of the process of the court.
• The FIR prevents the court from securing the ends of justice.

Reasons For False FIRs

The reason to file an FIR with ill intention may differ from one situation to the other but mostly one of the following reasons remains behind these frivolous FIRs-

• Getting undue advantage of legal remedies
• Fulfiling personal hatred
• Enmity
• Harassing the aggrieved person
• Defame the aggrieved person
• Misunderstanding which results in compromise

Grounds for Quashing of FIR

There are various grounds which can be utilised to prove that the filed FIR has no merit and the FIR is filed on baseless facts. If the court is convinced with your case and believes that the FIR is frivolous, it will be quashed. The major grounds for Quashing the FIR are as follows-

• When the facts stated by the complainant do not make any prima facie case and do not have the necessary ingredients to constitute an offence.
• If the facts are unlikely to be sufficient to prosecute the aggrieved party.
• In case there is any law that bars any proceedings against the accused.
• When the counter FIR is filed against the complainant and it shows the malicious intentions of the complainant.
• When the allegations of the complainant are absurd and improbable.
• If the allegations of the complainant in the FIR do not disclose any cognisable offence against the aggrieved person.

Filing of Application to Quash the FIR

To quash the FIR, you need to file a petition to the appropriate high court under section 482 of the code of criminal procedure. The petition needs to have the following sections-

• It should mention the FIR you need to quash.
• It must have all the allegations imposed on the aggrieved person.
• The petitioners need to convince the court that the facts mentioned in the FIR are baseless.
• The petition must also prove the ill intentions of the complainant to defame and harass the aggrieved person with a false case.
• In case a compromise has been reached by the parties, the details for the same shall also be attached.

Possible Scenario and Court Verdict

The court will appreciate the facts and decide the matter accordingly. Based on the facts of the case, the following scenarios may arise-

• The court can pass interim orders to restrain further investigation into the matter and quash the FIR.
• The convict can reach out to the court for quashing of FIR in case the parties are compromising but this is only possible for non heinous crimes.
• In matrimonial cases, where the FIR is filed under sections 498A and 406, and parties agree to amicably resolve the matter between them, the court can quash the FIR.
• If the chargesheet is filed by the prosecution against the aggrieved party, the petitioner may prove in court that the prosecution does not have material evidence to support the frivolous facts mentioned in the FIR. If the court is convinced by the petitioner, it may quash the FIR in question even after the filing of the chargesheet.
• If the complainant and the accused wish to compromise, they can do so at any stage in the high court. If the offence is compoundable and the parties wish to compromise, they can also reach a trial court for the compromise.
• In the case of financial offences, the compromise is the most favourable recourse if the parties come to terms. If the matter does not belong to economic offences then the court may allow compromise between the parties and quash of FIR.

When You Can Not Quash An FIR

In most cases, where the role of the state is not significant, the offence is compoundable, the parties agree to compromise, or the FIR does not have merits, the FIR may be quashed by the high court but there are some situations where the quashing of FIR is forbidden. In various cases, the apex court has cleared the permissibility of quashing FIR. Some of the major situations where FIR cannot be quashed are as follows-

• If there is any specific provision in the code to redress the grievances of the aggrieved, the powers conferred on the high court under section 482 will not be applicable and the FIR cannot be quashed through the procedure described.
• The powers under section 482 cannot be exercised against the bar set under any other provision of the act.
• The FIR cannot be quashed if the crime is heinous in nature as the law does not allow compromise between the parties where a heinous crime is involved.
• If the financial matter falls under economic offences then also the matter has to be investigated and dealt with in accordance with law and a compromise cannot be allowed.

Conclusion

The process to file the FIR has to be very convenient but at the same time, there has to be a strong mechanism to avoid the misuse of the same. To ensure justice delivery there has to be a balance between the ease to file an FIR and to quash the same in case it is frivolous in nature. This is where the provision of section 482 kicks in. It empowers the High Court to take decisions based on its own discretion and ensure that the court process is not abused and that justice is delivered to the aggrieved. Although there are limitations, to a large extent it curbs the unfair FIR filings. Also, in various cases, the apex court has introduced the provision of preliminary inquiry to avoid incidents of false FIRs.