Supreme Court Delivers Strong Judgment: Criminal Proceedings Quashed, Chargesheet Against ISKCON Officials Dismissed

On Thursday, the Supreme Court took strong exception to the criminal proceedings initiated at the behest of an International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) official in Kolkata against an ISKCON official in Bengaluru. 

A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M Trivedi noted that the proceedings were initiated based on a complaint filed 8 years after the incident regarding theft of a bus and the same was done to settle personal scores with the appellant-accused.

The Court further said that the allegations made against the appellants were so absurd and improbable that no prudent person could ever reach to a conclusion that there was a sufficient ground for proceeding against the appellants-accused. 

The bench also observed that the investigating officer had not even bothered to collect any cogent evidence to prosecute the appellants-accused. The Court made it clear that courts should not be used to settle personal scores or nurture egos.

The judgment was passed in appeals against a Calcutta High Court order that had refused to quash the chargesheet filed against the appellants-accused for the offences under Sections 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code. 

The main accused, Madhu Pandit Dasa, is the chairperson ISKCON Bengaluru and a Padma Shri awardee.

Senior Advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the accused, pointed out that the complaint was filed nearly 8 years after the bus allegedly went missing. Further, the allegations were only for harassing the accused. 

The accused had expressed willingness to buy a new luxury bus in the name of ISKCON Kolkata, he added. Senior Advocate Krishnan Venugopal pointed out that the final report had already been prepared and the offences were non-compoundable.

The top court at the outset said that the offences of forgery and criminal breach of trust were not made out. It slammed the investigation officer in this regard, observing that there was no expert opinion obtained or scientific evidence collected on the documents allegedly forged to show as to by whom, when and how the theft of vehicle and forgery of documents were committed. 

The ‘inordinate, unexplained’ delay of eight years to file the complaint amounted to sheer misuse and abuse of the process of law to settle personal scores, the bench emphasised. Such frivolous cases would mean that genuine ones have to take a backseat in terms of getting heard, the bench added.

As a result, the criminal proceedings were quashed, with a directive to deposit a sum of ₹1 lakh with the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association (SCAORA).