Courts must remain vigilant against weaponisation of criminal laws: Karnataka High Court

Courts must remain vigilant against the weaponisation of criminal law for settling civil disputes as the law, when misused, ceases to be a shield and becomes a sword, said the High Court of Karnataka while quashing a criminal case registered against a man by his business partner by invoking provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, to settle a financial dispute.

“The complainant to take revenge or arm twist the petitioner for financial dispute, has made use of the criminal justice system. The subject complaint is a blade of vengeance, cloaked in the garb of law,” the court observed.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna made these observations while quashing the criminal proceedings against Vilas Bhormalji Oswal on a complaint lodged by his estranged business partner Somashekara of Bengaluru.

Case background

Mr. Oswal and Mr. Somashekara were partners in Green Land Infra, a real estate development firm established in 2011, with the former being authorised signatory of the firm and the latter being the managing director. However, certain differences cropped up between them leading to closure of the business in 2016 resulting in unresolved disputes.

Meanwhile, Mr. Somashekara, who is a Scheduled Caste (SC), lodged a complaint with the Directorate of Civil Rights Enforcement (DCRE) in April 2021 alleging that Mr. Oswal had made a casteist remark against him in December 2020. However, the DCRE had not acted on the complaint for nearly three years.

Interestingly, the DCRE in February, 2024, recorded the statement of Mr. Somashekara and in March 2024 recorded the statements of two witnesses, known to Mr. Somashekara, who stated that they were present when Mr. Oswal allegedly abused the complainant. After recording the statements, the DCRE forwarded the complaint to the Jayanagar police in April 2024 for registering the criminal case.

The police, after investigation, filed the charge sheet against Mr. Oswal and a trial court took cognisance of offences against him in June, 2024.

However, the HC pointed out that the only allegation against Mr. Oswal in the complaint was that he told Mr. Somashekar at the playground, “do not show your casteist mindset” and there was no allegation that the petitioner abused Mr. Somashekar by taking the name of his caste or that the so-called abuse was made in front of two persons, who were treated as witnesses after four years.

Not in complaint

“The so-called eyewitnesses again are to be held to have been procured later, as there is no narration in the complaint that the incident was witnessed by two eyewitnesses nor the eyewitnesses would say that they accompanied the complainant to the ground,” the court observed while stating that if this case is permitted to proceed on these glaring facts, it would amount to an egregious abuse of legal machinery.

Published - June 04, 2025 07:21 pm IST