The Hon’ble Supreme Court vide its judgment dated May 10,
2022 in Rekha Jain Vs The State of Karnataka &
Anr.¹ held that to make out a case against a
person for an offence under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code,
1860 there must be a dishonest inducement to deceive a person to
deliver any property to any other person. As per Section 420 of the
Indian Penal Code, 1860, whoever cheats and thereby dishonestly
induces the person deceived to deliver any property to any person,
can be said to have committed an offence as per Section 420 of the
Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Brief facts of the case

The Respondent No. 1 in the present appeal (original
complainant), had lodged a complaint against one Kamalesh Mulchand
Jain, alleging, inter ¬alia, that by misrepresentation,
inducement and with an intention to cheat, the said Kamalesh
Mulchand Jain had taken away 2 kg and 27 grams of gold jewellery.
Thereafter, an FIR was registered for the offence under Section 420
of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and at the time of investigation, it
was found that Rekha Jain, the wife of the accused was absconding
and the gold jewellery, taken away from the original complainant by
her husband Kamalesh Mulchand Jain, was with her. Therefore, the
investigation was carried out against her as well. Rekha Jain
approached the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court by way of a
Petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973,
however, the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court refused to quash
the criminal proceedings/FIR. Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied
with the impugned judgment and order dated September 15, 2020
passed by the Hon’ble Karnataka High Court at Bengaluru in
Criminal Petition No. 3442/2020, by which, the Hon’ble
Karnataka High Court had dismissed the said criminal petition and
had refused to quash the FIR/criminal proceedings against
Petitioners, the original Writ Petitioners before the Hon’ble
Karnataka High Court have preferred the present Appeal.

Offence of cheating under Section 420 of Indian Penal Code

To make out a case against a person for the offence under
Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, there must be a
dishonest inducement to deceive a person to deliver any property to
any other person. In the present case, there is no allegation at
all against accused Rekha Jain of any inducement by her to deceive
and to deliver the gold jewellery. The allegations of dishonest
inducement and cheating are against her husband, accused Kamalesh
Mulchand Jain. Therefore, considering the allegations in the
FIR/complaint as they are, and in the absence of any allegation of
dishonest inducement by Rekha Jain, it cannot be said that she has
committed any offence under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code,
1860 for which she has been charge-sheeted. Allowing the appeal,
the Hon’ble Supreme Court observed that the Hon’ble
Karnataka High Court should have exercised its powers under
Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to rightfully
quash the criminal proceedings against Rekha Jain for the offence
under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, for which she
stands wrongfully accused. The Hon’ble Karnataka High Court
has in fact committed a grave error in not so quashing the criminal
proceedings against Rekha Jain, this being a fit case for exercise
of their powers in this regard.

Conclusion

The Hon’ble Supreme Court noted in the present appeal,
that the entire allegations are against the accused Kamalesh
Mulchand Jain and there are no allegations whatsoever to the effect
that the accused ¬ Rekha Jain dishonestly induced the original
complainant to part with the gold jewellery. Therefore, in the
absence of any allegation of dishonest inducement by the accused
Rekha Jain, she cannot be prosecuted for the offence under Section
420 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 as that is the necessary
substance to prove an offence under the said section.

Footnote

1. Criminal Appeal No. 749 of 2022.

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