Factual Matrix 

In the case of Chanchalpati Das v. State of West Bengal According to the complainant-respondent, police were allegedly notified of an alleged bus theft in 2001 in 2002 and 2006 but did nothing about it. In 2009, the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrates received a complaint with the request for an investigation pursuant to Section 156(3) of the Cr.P.C. The court determined that the eight-year delay in bringing the complaint was sufficient justification to halt the proceedings and that the complainant had not provided any materials or documents to support the claims made against the appellants. The court further determined that the investigating officer’s evidence did not prima facie support the elements of the accused offences under Sections 468, 471, 406, and 120-B of the IPC.

Observation of Court 

The cases have been dismissed by the justices Ajay Rastogi and Bela M. Trivedi’s panel after they noted that the complaint, which was brought after an excessively long eight-year delay without explanation, was nothing more than a clear misuse and abuse of the legal system to settle personal scores with the accused. It stated that permitting such prosecution to proceed would be a waste of precious court time and an empty formality.

The Calcutta High Court denied two Criminal Revision Applications that the appellants, Madhu Pandit Das and Chanchalpati Das, had filed for offences under Sections 468, 471, 406, and 120-B of the IPC were dismissed by the Calcutta High Court. The appellants are the President and Vice President of ISKCON, Bengaluru, respectively, and they promote themselves as global spiritual authorities and humanitarians.

The Court ruled that cases involving individuals who present themselves as global spiritual leaders should be taken more seriously because they frequently involve themselves in frivolous lawsuits and use the legal system as a venue to settle personal grudges or feed their egos. Therefore, the court ordered ISKCON Kolkata officials to pay a fine of Rs. 100,000.