In Brief
The appellants challenged the High Court's refusal to quash criminal proceedings alleging they had threatened the respondent to withdraw civil suits. The Supreme Court found the allegations absurd—the appellants themselves were the plaintiffs in the civil suits, so they could not have threatened the respondent to withdraw suits he never filed. The Court held that the criminal proceedings were initiated with mala fide intent and ulterior motive to wreak vengeance over a longstanding property dispute. Applying the Bhajan Lal criteria, the Court found the proceedings constituted an abuse of process and quashed them along with the High Court's judgment.
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