Two court cases same cause
Niny
(Querist) 09 April 2012
This query is : Resolved
A criminal case was filed for stopping water supply against members of Managing committee of co-operative society.
A civil suit injunction was also filed for same cause against same accused by same person.
Can both cases proceed at a time??
Can statement if given by respondent in civil matter be used as evidence , affecting accused in criminal case.
Or any one case to be stayed?? and which case to stay under which section cr p c cpc.
pl guide.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 09 April 2012
civil and criminal cases can go on simultaneously .
In a recent decision in V.M. Shah Vs.
State of Maharashtra and Anr., MANU/SC/0087/1996, the Supreme Court has re-
emphasised the need for giving preference to the criminal proceedings. 18. The settled
principle of law, thus, is that there is no constitutional or legal bar or prohibition for both
the civil as well as the criminal proceedings, to go on simultaneously. There is no rigid
straight-jacket fixed formula for staying proceedings in a criminal case while civil
proceedings are pending and it would depend on the facts of each case. Indeed, as
observed by the Apex Court in M.S. Sheriff's case (Supra) the public interest demands
that criminal justice should be swift and sure so that the guilty are punished while the
events are still fresh in the public mind. Therefore, criminal matters should be given
precedence over the civil matters. Besides, ordinarily, decision of a civil court is not
binding on a criminal Court. Nor is a criminal court's decision binding on the civil court.
In a criminal case all the ingredients of the offences have to be established in order to
secure the conviction of the accused.
ajay sethi
(Expert) 09 April 2012
In Iqbal Singh Marwah and Anr. vs. Meenakshi Marwah and Anr. AIR 2005 SC
2119, Supreme Court observed that both civil and criminal proceedings in respect of an
incident can go ahead simultaneously. There is neither any statutory provision nor any
legal principle that the findings recorded in one proceeding may be treated as final or
binding in the other, as both the cases are to be decided on the basis of the evidence
adduced therein.
