The Odisha high court has quashed a criminal complaint filed against Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its chairman over a faulty mobile handset, while imposing a fine of Rs 1,000 on the complainant. The court also criticised a lower court for issuing summons without adequate judicial scrutiny.
The court questioned the rationale behind summoning the RIL chairman in a case involving a defective handset worth Rs 501, sold by a dealer in Rourkela more than two decades ago. It observed that such reasoning would imply that a passenger could summon the railway minister for a delayed train.
While acknowledging that the complainant may have had a legitimate grievance regarding the handset and telecom services received in 2003, the court stated that a sense of grievance, however deep, does not entitle a person to weaponise the criminal law against those who have already been found to bear no criminal liability.
The high court further noted that this was the fourth round of criminal proceedings initiated by the same complainant on the same set of facts, stemming from a telecom subscription dating back to 2003.
According to the case details, the complainant had subscribed to a telecom scheme introduced by Reliance Infocomm in 2003 by paying Rs 501 and agreeing to subsequent monthly payments. A handset was provided by a local dealer, which the complainant alleged was defective, along with claims that the promised telecom services were not delivered. A criminal complaint was subsequently filed against the chairman of Reliance Infocomm at the time.
The court highlighted that earlier complaints filed in 2003 and 2004 had already been quashed by the high court in 2004 and 2005, while the supreme court dismissed related special leave petitions in 2007.
Observing that the dispute had continued for nearly 23 years over a transaction of Rs 501, the court described it as a sustained and almost unrelenting pursuit of criminal proceedings. It noted that courts had consistently found no merit in the case at every stage, yet proceedings continued in different forms.
The court directed the complainant to deposit the fine of Rs 1,000 with the Juvenile Justice Fund of the Odisha State Legal Services Authority within four weeks.
