Criminal writ petition

Articles 32 and 226 are the provisions of the Constitution that together provide an effective guarantee that every person has a fundamental right of access to courts. Article 32 confers power on the Supreme Court to enforce the fundamental rights.

he High courts have a parallel power under Article 226 to enforce the fundamental rights. Article 226 differs from Article 32 in that whereas Article 32 can be invoked only for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights, Article 226 can be invoked not only for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights but for any �other purpose� as well. This means that the Supreme Court�s power under Article 32 is restricted as compared with the power of a High Court under Article 226, for, if an administrative action does not affect a Fundamental Right, then it can be challenged only in the High Court under Article 226, and not in the Supreme Court under Article 32.

The law in regard to exercise of the powers of this Court under Section 482 CrPC to quash criminal cases involving non-compoundable offences is well-settled. In B.S. Joshi v. State of Haryana the Supreme Court held that where the criminal cases have been registered under Sections 406 and 498A IPC as a result of matrimonial discord and there is a settlement arrived at between the parties it would be against the interests of the woman and the object for which Section 498A was enacted if the High Court did not, in such circumstances, quash the proceedings.

In short a criminal writ petition is maintainable only during investigation of FIR and after chargesheet has been filed u can file only a 482 petition for quashing.

Regards

Bhuwan raj, Adv.