Quashing of Criminal Proceedings by the Delhi High Court: Law, Tests, Landmark Case Laws and Procedure
Quashing of criminal proceedings under Section 482 CrPC and Section 528 BNSS represents one of the most potent supervisory powers exercised by the High Courts. Over the years, the Delhi High Court has evolved a structured jurisprudence—drawing from landmark Supreme Court precedents such as Bhajan Lal, Gian Singh, Neeharika Infrastructure, Parbatbhai Aahir, and Rajiv Thapar—to determine when continuing a criminal case would amount to an abuse of process or a miscarriage of justice.
This article explains the governing legal principles, the tests applied by courts, and the procedural framework followed in Delhi for quashing FIRs, charge‑sheets, and criminal complaints. It also analyses recent trends, including settlement‑based quashing, scrutiny of matrimonial disputes under Section 498A, and the emerging interface between the CrPC and the BNSS. The aim is to provide practitioners with a practical, precedent‑aligned guide to navigating quashing petitions before the Delhi High Court.