Turning civil matters into criminal cases: Supreme Court says 'complete breakdown of rule of law' in UP

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday rapped the Uttar Pradesh police for converting a civil matter into a criminal case, saying it reflected that there was a "complete breakdown of rule of law".

A bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Vishwanathan said turning a civil matter into a criminal case was not acceptable.

Having come across FIRs filed by the police in civil cases, the bench asked, "Just because civil cases take long, you will file an FIR and set the criminal law in motion!"

Criticising the conduct of officials’, the bench said, "This is wrong what is happening in Uttar Pradesh. Everyday civil suits are being converted to criminal cases”.

The court said this is absurd and made it clear that "merely not giving money cannot be turned into an offence".

The bench said it will issue a direction to the investigating officer (IO) to come to the witness box, and the officer will stand in the witness box and make out a criminal case, and the IO should learn a lesson.

"This is not the way you file chargesheets," the bench told the state counsel.

The court made specific queries for the DGP and the station house officer of a Gautam Budh Nagar district police station. The bench asked these officials to file affidavits, explaining why the criminal law was set in motion in a civil dispute.

The apex court directed the IO of the police station concerned at Sector-39 in Noida to appear in the witness box and answer why registration of the FIR in the case was required.

The court was hearing a plea of the accused Debu Singh and Deepak Singh, filed through lawyer Chand Qureshi. The petitioner moved the top court challenging the order passed by the Allahabad High Court refusing to quash the criminal case against them.

After hearing submissions, the top court decided to put on hold criminal proceedings against the petitioners in a Noida trial court. However, the apex court made it clear that the cheque bounce case against them would continue. An FIR was filed against the duo in Noida under Section 406 , 506 and 120B of the IPC.