In Brief
Two elderly sisters—a 70-year-old widow of a retired Army Major General and her 50-year-old daughter, both resident in New Delhi—faced criminal prosecution in Telangana for allegedly defrauding a property agent who sought to purchase their land. The dispute centered on an oral agreement to sell for Rs. 5.75 crores; the agent paid Rs. 4.05 crore via bank transfer but the sale deed was never executed. The High Court summarily dismissed the appellants' petition to quash the FIR without addressing its merits. The Supreme Court found this a purely civil dispute—indeed, the agent had separately filed a civil suit for specific performance—and held that criminal charges (cheating and breach of trust) were a gross abuse of the criminal process. The Court quashed the FIR and all proceedings, imposed ₹10 lakh exemplary costs on the complainant for misuse of criminal law, and directed police protection for the appellants when visiting Telangana.
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