Nithya (Officer) 25 July 2017

Can a summary suit be filed?

Can a summary suit be filed? When already FIR is filed for cheating?

Summary suit comes under Civil law and Cheating complaint comes under Criminal law.

If the FIR is filed for cheating on the advice of a Criminal lawyer..... Should we find a different advocate for filing summary suit?

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2 Replies

Raveena Kataria (Advocate ) 26 July 2017

Hi, please refer to a 2015 case titled Mr. A. K. Gupta vs Mr. Prakash Thakuria: "It is a well settled legal position that an act of the accused can give rise to both civil and criminal proceedings, and both can be pursued simultaneously."

Also, I'm sure your existing advocate can assist you with initiating civil proceedings as well. No need to hire another one.

Tushar Jha (Advisor) 27 July 2017

Civil Suit and Criminal Case can proceed simultaneously.
Res Judicata in Civil Suit will not apply to Criminal Proceedings.
Furthermore, legal prosecution pursuant to F.I.R. will be conducted by Government Public Prosecutor. And legal expenses arising out of Public Prosecutor are borne by the 'State'. Hence, you need not engage a lawyer for 'Criminal Trial'.
You can engage an advocate to pursue Summary Civil Suit under Order 37 of Code of Civil Procedure.

Also, make an application to the Sessions/CJM/CMM court where Criminal Case will be tried for award of compensation as per Victim Compensation Scheme. You can make an application under Section 357(1)(b) & Section 357(3) of the Code Of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.) to the 'Trial Court' where the accused will be prosecuted.