Published on: May 05, 2024 18:46 IST
Court- Supreme Court of India
Citation- N.S. Nandiesha Reddy v. Kavitha Mahesh 2021
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that it is a settled the position of law that even in a case where the Court comes to the conclusion on the aspect of intentional false evidence, still the Court has to form an opinion whether it is expedient in the interest of justice to initiate an inquiry into the offences of false evidence, having regard to the overall factual matrix as well as the probable consequences of such prosecution. It is held that a Court must be satisfied that such an inquiry under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is required in the interest of justice and is appropriate in the facts of the case.
21. Firstly, from the evidence as tendered, we did not see reason to permit the prosecution since in our opinion there is no intentional falsehood uttered. The other relevant facts also indicate that the factual matrix herein does not indicate that it is expedient in the interest of justice to initiate an inquiry and expose the appellant to criminal prosecution. On this aspect it is to be noted that the instant case is not a case where the nomination paper which was complete in all respect was filed and it had been improperly rejected in the scrutiny stage. The allegation of the election petitioner is that the Returning Officer had refused to receive the nomination paper, which the learned Judge in the ultimate analysis has accepted and termed the same as an improper rejection. Even that be so, to indicate that the non-acceptance alleged by the election petitioner was a deliberate action by the Returning Officer with a specific purpose, it has neither been pleaded nor proved in the course of the proceedings so as to penalise the appellant to face yet another proceeding. The Assembly Constituency concerned is a vast constituency which had nearly four lakh voters on the electoral rolls. The election petitioner had not placed material to indicate that she had contested in any earlier election or had wide support base in the election concerned and it is in that view she had been shut out from the contest. Further there is no allegation that the Returning Officer was acting at the instance or behest of any other candidate who was feeling threatened by the participation of the election petitioner in the election process.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra