New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday (April 7) criticised the practice of civil disputes being turned into criminal cases by the Uttar Pradesh police and termed it a “complete breakdown of the rule of law.”

The apex court also said that if the practice doesn’t come to an end, costs could be imposed on the state, reported LiveLaw.

The court made the observations as a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna along with Justices Sanjay Kumar and K.V. Viswanathan was hearing a plea to quash an FIR registered against the petitioner accused of criminal breach of trust, criminal intimidation, and criminal conspiracy.

Apart from the charges of allegedly failing to return certain sums of money to the complainants, the petitioner was facing proceedings for cheque dishonour under Section 138 NI Act.

“This is wrong! What is happening in UP? Everyday civil suits are being converted to criminal cases. That’s not correct! That’s break down of rule of law completely!” said CJI Khanna.

Earlier, the bench had also remarked that it may initiate contempt proceedings against the investigating officer in the case for not complying with the Supreme Court’s directions about making clear and complete entries of all columns in the chargesheet.

The complete entries can make the court clearly understand which crime has been committed by which accused and what is the material evidence available on the file.

The Court also directed the Director General of Police, UP, to file an affidavit on the steps taken to comply with these earlier directions of the Court.

“Let them file the affidavit, this is a complete breakdown of the rule of law…this converting of civil matters into criminal matters is not acceptable, and if it is not being done(compliance) then costs are going to be imposed to ensure that there is compliance.” said CJI Khanna.