While overturning a Magistrate Court order, the Karnataka high court said that cases cannot be dismissed just to get them out of the way. The High Court ruled that the case cannot be dismissed just because the complainant wasn’t present in court on a certain day.
‘When the presence of the complainant on that day is not necessary, the learned JMFC (Judicial Magistrate First Class) ought not to have dismissed the complaint for non-appearance of the complainant,’ Justice P N Desai said in his recent judgement on a criminal appeal. ‘Simple to dispose of the cases or get rid of them, the complaint cannot be dismissed when there is no necessity of the presence of the complainant,’ said the High Court.
Nagaraj, a resident of Kalaburgi, filed the appeal. He complained privately to Ishwar Kamalapur about an issue with cheque dishonouring. The JMFC court had the case on file since 2013.
The accused didn’t show up in front of the trial court until 2018. When the case was set for recording the plea on October 17, 2018, the JMFC rejected the complaint due to the ‘complainant’s non-appearance.’ This was contested by Nagaraj before the Sessions Court, which permitted the case to go forward. The accused challenged this in front of the High Court, which accepted his plea. Following that, the complainant presented a criminal appeal to the High Court.
When the case was posted for recording the accused’s plea for the complainant’s non-appearance, Justice PN Desai noted that the JMFC had kept the matter waiting for five years ‘for want of appearance of respondent/accused but dismissed the complaint at that time.’ Before issuing any such dismissal order, the court must consider the stage of the case, the accused and complainant’s prior appearances, how long the complaint has been ongoing, and what the nature of the matter is, according to the High Court.
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