CrPC Does Not Bar Amendment Of Complaint, Court May Allow Such Request If No Prejudice Is Caused To Other Side: Madhya Pradesh HC

The High Court of Madhya Pradesh recently held that the Complainant in a case under the Negotiable Instruments Act can amend/modify his complaint. Regarding the stage and the extent to which such modifications can be allowed, the Court opined that a simple infirmity, not causing any prejudice to the accused may be allowed at any stage. The bench comprising of Justice D.K. Paliwal observed- It is undisputed that there is no specific provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure dealing with the amendment of the complainant. At the same time, there is also no bar under the Cr.P.C against permitting a complainant to amend his complaint.…in wake of above discussion, it is apparent that Courts below have not committed any error in passing the impugned orders as amendment sought to be made by complainant relates to mere curing a simple infirmity, which has resulted in no prejudice to the accused and same may be allowed by the Court at any stage of the proceedings as the same does not change the nature of the complaint and is mean to cure the curable defects. The facts of the case were that the Respondent/Complainant had filed a complaint case under Section 138 N.I. Act before the lower court. However, he wrongly mentioned the bank's name as PNB instead of HDFC Bank. He then moved an application to amend his complaint to change the name of the bank. The lower court allowed his application for amendment. A revision against this order was dismissed. Hence, the Applicant-accused moved the instant petition under Section 482 CrPC. The Applicant argued that the said amendment had changed the nature of the complaint and that there was no provision under CrPC to incorporate such amendment. It was submitted that even during his deposition before the trial court, the Respondent/Complainant had admitted the name of the bank to be PNB. It was, thus, asserted that the amendment application was filed to meet out the deficiency caused in averments of complaint against the provisions of CrPC. Examining the submissions of parties, documents on record and the jurisprudence laid down by the Apex Court on the subject, the Court opined that the mistake made by the Respondent/Complainant was a simple infirmity which was curable by means of formal amendment, and by allowing such amendment, no prejudice was caused to the Applicant/accused. Accordingly, the petition was rejected.Case Title: BHUPENDRA SINGH THAKUR versus UMESH SAHUCitation: 2022 LiveLaw (MP) 190Click Here To Read/Download Order

CrPC Does Not Bar Amendment Of Complaint, Court May Allow Such Request If No Prejudice Is Caused To Other Side: Madhya Pradesh HC

Zeeshan Thomas

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