FIR followed by compromise with accused ‘abuse of process’, says Madhya Pradesh high court

BHOPAL/JABALPUR: The MP high court has held that filing an FIR and then settling the dispute with the accused amounts to an "abuse of the legal process", even as it imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on the complainant during a bail hearing.Mahesh Kemtani, a car dealer in Jabalpur and the complainant in the case, had lodged a complaint against his employees Sandeep Kumar Mishra, Neha Vishwakarma and Naseem Khan accusing them of siphoning off Rs 97 lakh.The three accused were employees in his car showroom.Following a complaint at Madan Mahal police station in Jabalpur, Rs 12 lakh were recovered from the house of Mishra and he was arrested.Mishra had moved the court for bail. During the bail hearing, Mishra told the court that he and the other two accused had reached a settlement with Kemtani.State govt counsel, while raising objection over out-of-court settlement, said it was an abuse of the process of law, and it should not be recognised.Justice Sandeep N Bhatt observed that lodging an FIR against someone and then reaching an out of court settlement with him is abuse of the process of law.The court granted bail to Mishra, and imposed a cost of Rs 50,000 on Kemtani.The amount of penalty would be deposited in the account of the MP High Court Bar Association.