Supreme Court: Criminal Law Cannot Be Used for Personal Vendetta

The Supreme Court cautions that criminal law should not become a tool for settling personal scores or vindictive purposes. 

In this case, the Court quashed a cheating FIR filed five years after a contract dispute, noting no evidence of dishonesty from the accused when the agreement was made. 

The bench, comprising Justices B.V. Nagarathna and R. Mahadevan, emphasised that civil remedies exist for contractual disputes and warned against invoking criminal proceedings in the absence of fraud or mal-intent.

[Paramjeet Singh v State of Himachal Pradesh & Ors]