The Bombay High Court recently quashed a First Information Report (FIR) lodged against three members of a housing society, who had forged a false RT-PCR Covid19 'negative' report for themselves, to ease and evade security protocols of their society. 

Single-judge Justice Milind Jadhav while quashing the FIR against Shivaji Kamble, Prathamesh Parab and Vikrant Tambe, observed that the trio prepared the fabricated Covid19 test reports in view of the exigency prevailing during the days of the Covid19 led lockdown restrictions. 

"During the exigency of the Covid – 19 Pandemic, in order to ease and evade the entry protocols to the society, the Applicants had created fabricated Covid – 19 tests reports through the accused Tambe, a young web designer for the purpose of their security staff. The petitioners - Kamble and Parab are merely 24 years old and in order to overcome the anxiety and difficulties faced by them during the said Covid19 Pandemic lock-down period, the act was committed," Justice Jadhav noted. 

In its August 10 order, the court noted that the when the society's security personnel and Chairman noticed discrepancies in the RT-PCR test certificate which was submitted showing a negative result, on due verification and on suspecting foul play, the offence against the trio was registered. The judge noted that Tambe used his laptop and Adobe Illustrator CS3 editing software to digitally fabricate and create the artificial negative RT-PCR test reports issued by Metropolis Laboratory.

"Prima facie, one can understand the exigency due to which the alleged crime had occurred. Today, after much water having flown below the bridge, the Society has passed a Resolution, and an affidavit dated July 21, 2026 is taken on record by this Court. It is resolved by the Managing Committee of the Society that since there was no actual harm or illness constituted to the Society members, and in view of the young age of petitioners and their future, the Society has approached this Court and filed the necessary no objection affidavit before this Court. I am inclined to accept the affidavit filed by the Society and determine the present petition. Needless to state that the act committed by the Petitioners was at the then time an act leading to many people being on the brink of loosing their sanity in view of the protocol and lock-down restrictions, which were introduced during the Covid 19 Pandemic lock down period," the judge observed. 

However, still an act of crime will remain as an act of crime, the judge said while allowing the petition filed by the trio to quash the criminal proceedings, subject to them paying costs of Rs.10,000/- each, to AK Munshi Yojana's JT Sheth Mandbuddhi Vikas Kendra, a special school which imparts education and training to nearly 150 special children. 

With these observations, the bench quashed the FIR and also directed the Police to hand over the laptop, which was seized during the investigation. 

Appearance:

Advocates Ajay Basutkar and Shruti Bedekar appeared for the Petitioners. 

Additional Public Prosecutor Shilpa Talhar represented the State.

Advocate Neha Sonawane represented the Housing Society. 

Case Title: Shivaji Maruti Kamble vs State of Maharashtra (Writ Petition 3898 of 2026)

Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Bom) 377

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