NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday imposed a Rs 50,000 fine on two Uttar Pradesh police officials for filing an FIR in a property dispute of civil nature.The bench said the top court was flooded with the petitions challenging registration of FIRs in civil disputes and the practice was in “violation of a plethora of judgements”.”Filing a criminal case for civil wrongs is unacceptable,” said a bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar and refused to waive off the fine imposed on errant police officials.The bench told the state government counsel, “You pay the cost of Rs 50,000 and recover it from the officers.” The counsel had sought waiving off the fine.The CJI recorded the facts of the case and said an FIR was lodged against Rikhab Birani and Sadhna Birani, who hail from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, in the case.While dealing with a similar case, the CJI had said previously, “There is a complete breakdown of rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. Converting a civil matter into a criminal case is not acceptable.”The director general of the state police was then directed to file an affidavit in the particular case.In the case at hand, the bench noted the FIR was lodged by the state police despite the fact that a local magisterial court twice rejected two separate pleas of one Shilpi Gupta seeking a direction for criminal prosecution against the Biranis.
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