New Delhi: The Supreme Court has allowed private individuals to file complaints against elected candidates for furnishing false information or concealing facts in election affidavits. Such complaints can be filed under Section 125A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. A Supreme Court bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu ruled that such complaints fall outside the scope of Section 195(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which specifies cases requiring a complaint from the concerned public servant, reported Live Law.
Supreme Court
The top court also held that Section 195(1) of the CrPC does not include Section 125A of the Representation of the People Act. This section penalises candidates for deliberately providing false details or withholding information in nomination papers or affidavits.
“If indeed it were the intention of the legislature that cognizance of any offence relating to furnishing of false information by a candidate in an affidavit with intent of being elected in an election could only be taken if the complainant were a public servant, the same could have been provided by an amendment of Section 195, CrPC,” the apex court observed, as quoted by the media house.
Justice Datta observed that Section 125A was brought into effect in 2002, whereas Section 195 of the CrPC was amended in 2006. The Court said Parliament had not added Section 125A to the offences listed under Section 195, indicating that the exclusion was intentional.
The Court further observed that no law restricts the filing of a complaint under Section 125A exclusively to a public servant. It also noted that the provision specifies that its penalty applies “notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force”, reported Live Law.
The judgment was delivered while hearing an appeal reportedly filed by a man named Rajkumar Madki against a Karnataka High Court decision dismissing his criminal complaint against Dr Shailendra Beldale, a member of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly. Beldale was elected from the Bidar constituency in 2023. The petitioner had alleged that Beldale furnished a false declaration regarding his residential address in the affidavit.
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