FIR Quashing & Criminal Appeals (High Court)

Section 528 of the BNSS, 2023 preserves the inherent power of the High Court to prevent abuse of the process of any court and to secure the ends of justice — the successor to the well-known inherent jurisdiction used for quashing. Through it, the High Court can quash an FIR, chargesheet or entire proceeding where the allegations, even if taken at face value, do not constitute an offence, are absurd or inherently improbable, are actuated by malice, or where the parties have amicably settled. The guiding framework remains the seven categories laid down in State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal — still good law under the new codes. For compoundable and many non-compoundable offences (including matrimonial cruelty), the Supreme Court permits quashing on the basis of a genuine settlement, subject to the court’s satisfaction that it is not against the public interest. We combine quashing petitions with criminal appeals against conviction or acquittal and revisions under Sections 438 (Sessions) and 442 (High Court) BNSS — diagnosing the legal infirmities in the prosecution and pressing them at the right forum.