Criminal Trial When Civil Rights Are in Dispute
In this article, let us try to understand whether a criminal trial is warranted when civil rights are in dispute. With due respect to the judicial ratios laid by the Honourable High Courts and Supreme Court. There is unjust anomalous situation when there are competing rights.
Property Rights and the Use of Criminal Law
Usually, most of the cases involving ‘right’ over the property or ‘thing’ are forcefully brought into the regimes of criminal law, primarily by use of Cheating or Breach of Trust. However, there are certain concepts which need to be understood so comprehend 1st to bring a complaint or a FIR/charge into the criminal regime.
Wrongful Gain, Wrongful Loss, and Legal Entitlement
As per provisions of IPC and renamed BNS, the unchanged principle of ‘wrongful gain’ and ‘wrongful loss’, hinges upon the phrase “legally entitled to..”. This means that the person claiming to be cheated or his trust being breached, should be having ‘legal rights’ & be entitled to the ‘thing’, which is subject, matter of cheating or breach of trust.
Likewise, the definition of “valuable security” also refers to a document showing legal right or liability, for this discussion. The definition dishonestly fraudulently would captures those legal rights and entitlement.
Competing Rights in the Subject Matter
In the premise, the accused would not have a ‘legal right’ in the subject matter of the ‘thing’ of which offence is committed. Same is the effect if there is a dispute, and both complainant and accused claim to have right over the ‘thing’, or, which is reciprocal vesting of rights and liabilities between the complainant and accused as against a ‘thing’. Thus each promise by complaint to accused and vice vera, is also a right respectively.
Civil Court Approach
In case of such disputes, a Civil Court will either ask the present holder of ‘thing’ to hold as Receiver till determination of rights by a Decree.
Criminal Prosecution as an Instrument
Coming to criminal prosecution, now, it has become an instrument or operation by system, where the unsettled and disputed ‘rights’ to a ‘thing’ form foundation of criminal proceedings via Complaint or FIR.
Key Legal and Constitutional Questions
This raises following Legal and Constitutional questions as follows
| S. No. | Question |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1- Can a Criminal Court jurisdictionally determine ‘civil rights’ and take to itself the duty of settling these ‘civil rights’? |
| 2 | 2- Can the Criminal Court have a ‘Civil Trial’ within a ‘Criminal Trial’? |
| 3 | 3- If conviction is imposed by criminal court on accused, does civil remedy of accused become infructuous? |
| 4 | 4- Would the order of Conviction passed by Criminal Court binding on the trial by Civil Court? |
| 5 | 5- Wouldn’t taking away of property of the accused by the state instrumentality in its Criminal Jurisdiction, be Violation of 300A of Constitution of India? |
Conclusion on Criminal vs Civil Remedies
Conclusively- Shouldn’t the Criminal Courts summarily dismiss such type of contractual dispute brought into criminal regimes? And, shouldn’t it relegate the parties to other non-criminal remedies?
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