112. WP 6187-2025.doc IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION WRIT PETITION NO. 6187 OF 2025 Bhavesh Devandra Singh & ors. .Petitioners Vs. The State of Maharashtra & anr. .Respondents Mr. Mithilesh Mishra, Advocate, for the Petitioners Mr. S. A. Karmakar, APP, for Respondent No. 1 – State Mr. Roshan Balsara, Advocate, for Respondent No. 2 CORAM : MILIND N. JADHAV, J. DATE : 11.09.2026 P. C. 1. Heard Mr. Mishra, learned Counsel for the Petitioners, Mr. Karmakar, learned APP for Respondent No. 1 – State and Mr. Balsara, learned Counsel for Respondent No.2. 2. All Complainants and parties before me are young offenders. The scuffle occurred amongst them on account of selling of tickets at the ticket counter at Eros Theater, Nariman Point, Mumbai. A stick lying around was used by one of the Petitioners to inflict a blow which caused grievous hurt to the first informant. 3. Considering that the parties before me are all in their 20s rather early 20s, I am inclined to consider the request made by learned Advocates for consent quashing. All the parties are present before me. I Anand 1 of 7 ANAND SUDHAKAR SUDAME Digitally signed by ANAND SUDHAKAR SUDAME Date: 2026.09.19 15:06:10 +0530 112. WP 6187-2025.doc have interacted with them and I find that the present proceedings should not derail their future prospectus in life and the parties should not suffer the ignominy of Criminal prosecution and proceedings especially, in view of the fact that the incident in question happened at the spur of the moment and was never premeditated or planned whatsoever. In that view of the matter, the Petition stands allowed. 4. Affidavit dated 05.08.2026 of the Complainant is filed before me today, I have perused it and taken the same on record. The contents of the said Affidavit prima facie show that the entire dispute is settled and parties now want to put an end to the Criminal proceedings. 5. Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 conferred inherent powers on High Courts to pass such orders as are justified to give effect to any order in the Court, prevent abuse of process of any Court or secure the ends of justice. In the BNSS this provision stands incorporated with Section 528 which substantially reproduces the language and intent of Section 482 of the CRPC, 1973 High Courts invoke this provision to step in where cases have been instituted with malafide motives or to harass the accused person thereby avoiding procedural harassment. It empowers Court to dismiss FIRs or criminal proceedings if there is no prima facie case or evidence against the accused person/s or if orders are made in violation of the principles of Anand 2 of 7 112. WP 6187-2025.doc natural justice. The exercise of such powers under Section 482 of CRPC and now Section 528 of BNSS remains discretionary and varies from case to case. 6. In State of Harayana vs Bhajan Lal1 the Supreme Court laid down model categories and guidelines in paragraph No. 102 of the said judgment in which the FIRs can be quashed. The Supreme Court has further asserted that power under Section 482 is an acknowledgment of "powers inherent" and not the source of powers additional. It has held that even non compoundable offences can be quashed where necessary. It has held that High Courts have to decide whether the prosecution of an offence would further or be against the interest of justice. It is also held that grievous offences such as murder, rape, and dacoity cannot ordinarily be quashed even after settlement because they involve societal implication. 7. In the above context, when parties settle their private dispute or the lis between them is purely civil and commercial or matrimonial and the offence is not heinous or does not impact the society at large, the Court can consider such request. In such a case awarding costs for putting the criminal law into motion on the act of the accused persons and thereafter both parties seeking quashing of proceedings by 1 1992 AIR 604 Anand 3 of 7 112. WP 6187-2025.doc consent, in my opinion, can be considered by Court which can impose costs on the parties, especially so in matters coming before the Court by “consent quashing”. 8. For above levy of costs the legal principle rests on the logic that criminal law cannot be used as a bargaining chip or a tool for private settlements after draining the State and judicial resources. In simple words, Courts cannot be used as a recovery mechanism to settle scores and/or bring the parties into subjugation. I am of the firm opinion that imposition of costs in consent quashing matters is required to be levied for three main reasons viz., wastage of public resources, consumption of valuable judicial time and for deterrence against vexatious litigation. This is because after criminal machinery is set into motion, the Police Department is forced to take cognizance, conduct investigations, attend courts, deploy personnel, collect evidence and draft chargesheets, all using public funds/ public exchequer. Equally substantial judicial time of the Trial Courts and Sessions Courts is wasted for handling a case, presentation of a case, issuance of summons, scheduling of trial dates, appointment of prosecutors and their fees, etc. and ultimately if consent quashing is allowed such judicial time stands completely wasted, which could have otherwise been used for genuine Trial Court matters/ litigation in one way such matters result in clogging the legal Anand 4 of 7 112. WP 6187-2025.doc system and lead to humongous pendency which becomes difficult to tackle. 9. Another aspect to consider for imposing costs is that it curbs the growing trend of filing strategically exaggerated criminal complaints (especially matrimonial or commercial disputes) simply to force financial and legal settlements. In a given case made out on merits of the matter, even the Complainant can be put to costs while considering a quashing Petition purely on merits depending upon the facts of each case before Court. In some strong circumstances, even the State machinery can be put to costs if a purely civil dispute between parties strongly emanating from the facts on record is registered as criminal case and given the flavor of criminality. This Court is also equally conscious about not imposing costs blindly or mechanically if a particular party is not found to be remiss or at explicit fault for abusing the law, as also conscious about heinous offences impacting the society at large while considering consent quashing. 10. Applying the aforesaid principles to the facts of the present case, I am of the opinion that the Petitioners, for their actions resulting in the complainant invoking criminal proceedings and now both the parties seeking quashing by consent, the Petitioners, should pay costs. Hence, Petitioners are directed to pay costs of Rs. 25,000/- towards the Anand 5 of 7 112. WP 6187-2025.doc Corpus of A.K. Munshi Yojana a trust which runs medical centres, vocational training centres and which also runs a Special School called J.T. Sheth Mandbuddhi Vikas Kendra, imparting education and training to the needs of 150 special children in the field of Education (Classes for 6 to 18 years), early intervention (upto 6 years) and vocational training (18 years above) having its school address and building at A.K. Munshi Yojana Chowk, 3rd Panjarapole Lane, C.P. Tank, Mumbai – 400 004 [Contact Nos. 22425513 / 22423654] registered under the Society Registration Act, XXI of 1980 under No. : 387/81 GBBSD and the Public Trust Act, XXIX of 1950 under No. F-6809. RCI Reg. No. 0163 within a period of two weeks from the date of uploading of this order. The Petitioners are present in Court and through their learned Advocate agrees to pay the aforesaid costs amount to the charity. 11. In view of the above matter, the present Petition deserves to be allowed subject to payment of costs as directed herein above. It is so allowed in terms of prayer clauses ‘a’ and ‘b’ which read thus:- “a) That, the present Writ Petition may be admitted and allowed; b) That this Hon’ble Court be pleased to issue appropriate writ, order and direction for quashing and setting aside FIR bearing C.R. No. 307 of 2024 for offences punishable u/s. 115(2), 118(1), 118(2), 190, 189(2), 189(4), 191(2), 191(3), 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 registered with Marine Drive Police Station, Mumbai at the behest of the Respondent No. 2 and the subsequent proceedings i.e., chargesheet registered as C. C. No. 364/PW/2025 pending before Ld. Addl. Chief Judicial Magistrate, 8th Court at Esplanade, Mumbai on such terms and conditions as this Hon’ble Anand 6 of 7 112. WP 6187-2025.doc Court may deem fit and proper.” 12. List the Writ Petition for compliance of the order regarding payment of costs on 28.09.2026. 13. Advocate for the Petitioners shall remain present and show compliance on behalf of the Petitioners on the returnable date for compliance. If he does not remain present and there is non-compliance of this order, Court will pass appropriate order for recall of this order, which shall be noted by the Petitioners. 14. Writ Petition is allowed and disposed. (MILIND N. JADHAV, J.) Anand 7 of 7