Srinagar, May 19: The High Court of J&K and Ladakh has quashed an FIR registered against the former cricketer over allegations of submitting a fake date of birth certificate to secure registration for the Ranji Trophy.
Underscoring that criminal law cannot be permitted to be used as an instrument of harassment or for settling internal institutional disputes, a bench comprising Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal quashed FIR No. 26/2023 registered by the Crime Branch, Kashmir, against the cricketer Majid Yaqoob Dar. The former cricketer had petitioned, seeking the court’s intervention to quash the FIR.
Details submitted before the court revealed that the FIR originated from a complaint filed by the then Chief Executive Officer of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) in 2020 wherein he had alleged that Dar had falsely projected his date of birth as December 30, 1978 instead of December 30, 1970 in order to obtain registration and benefits related to the Ranji Trophy.
The court noted that an internal inquiry conducted by JKCA had found the allegations to be baseless and motivated by internal disputes within the association. The Sub-Committee of JKCA had informed the Crime Branch that no material supporting the allegations could be traced in official records and recommended closure of the complaint.
The Court also took note of the statement of Member Administration of JKCA, Brigadier Anil Gupta (Retd), who stated before the Registrar Judicial that the association did not wish to pursue the prosecution any further and sought closure of the case.
Once the complainant association itself had concluded that the allegations were unfounded and unsupported by official records, continuation of criminal proceedings would amount to abuse of the process of law, the court noted.
The Court held that it could not overlook that criminal law could not be permitted to be used as an instrument of harassment or for settling internal disputes of an institution.
“Once the complainant itself, after examining the entire matter through its internal mechanism, has found the allegations to be baseless, unfounded and unsupported by the official record, continuation of criminal proceedings would serve no useful purpose and would amount to abuse of the process of law.”
The Court observed that it was also conscious of the settled principle that criminal law cannot be permitted to degenerate into a weapon of persecution or be utilized for oblique purposes arising out of personal or institutional rivalries.
The court concluded that that the material brought on record prima facie reflected that the impugned proceedings stemmed from internal disputes prevailing within the Association at the relevant point of time rather than from any genuine criminal misconduct attributable to the petitioner and quashed the FIR.
