Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 20: Terming the registration of FIR in a civil dispute as abuse of process of law, High Court has quashed the same as also the order of trial court on which basis the FIR was lodged.
Justice Javed Iqbal Wani held the order of court under which the FIR was lodged as also the FIR as abuse of law.
Justice Wani emphasized that breaches of injunction orders should be addressed through the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), rather than by registering FIRs.
The court observed that the respondent-party had improperly sought to convert a civil dispute into a criminal matter by obtaining an FIR registration order from the trial court.
“The impugned FIR owes its origin to the impugned order dated 29.02.2024 passed by the trial court having been held to be legally unsustainable”, court recorded.
The court said that the proper recourse for alleged disobedience of court orders is through provisions of CPC, not criminal proceedings. “Law is settled that a court is empowered to take cognizance of the disobedience or breach of an order granted by it and to proceed against the offender for such disobedience or breach under the provisions of CPC”, read the judgment.
The court found that the registration of the FIR was an abuse of the legal process. “The respondents have had complained disobedience of the injunction order passed by the appellate court on 07.06.2017 and instead of choosing to have the petitioners punished for such alleged disobedience, respondent chose to contest the proceedings into criminal one through the intervention of the trial court as a weapon of harassment which is not permissible in law,” HC said.
The case arose from a long-standing civil litigation between the parties over an immovable property. The respondent, Ghulam Mohammad Lone, had filed a civil suit in 2015 against the petitioners, Ghulam Mohi-u-din Lone and others, before the Sub Judge Kupwara. Various interim orders were passed, including one by the appellate court on 07.06.2017 allowing construction on the disputed land subject to certain conditions.
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