Mumbai: The Bombay High Court recently refused to quash a case of cheating against a private aviation company, which did not issue a course completion certificate to a farmer’s son because he did not appear for an interview.
A Division Bench of Justices S.C. Dharmadhikari and S.S. Jadhav was hearing a criminal writ filed by the company seeking to quash an FIR registered against it under Sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly including delivery of property), 465 (punishment for forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security) and 471 (using as forged a document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code.
The complaint was filed by the youth, who had expressed inability to pay the fees for a course conducted by the company. He had, however, paid registration fees of ₹15,000 and ₹30,000 as fees, and signed six post-dated cheques made out to the company. Though he completed the course, he was not issued a certificate of completion. He was given assurances that the certificate would be given to him and that he would get a job.
The youth later found out that the institute had no recognition or approval for the course. Hence, he approached the police.
The court said, “Prima facie, we find that the allegations contained in the complaint and read as a whole disclose commission of an offence. We cannot see how we can term this complaint as mala fide or an abuse of the process of the Court, or any harassment or embarrassment to the Institute,” and dismissed the petition.
