Amit Ramakant Jain v. State of Maharashtra
In the High Court of Bombay
Writ Petition 2307, 4473, 4474, 5707/2021
Before Justice Prasanna B. Varale and Justice Anil S. Kilor
Decided on February 02, 2022

Relevancy of the case: Petition to quash FIR after settlement between the parties in a case involving source code theft

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Information Technology Act, 2000 (Section 43, 66)
• The Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Section 34, 408, 420)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The first informant has a company, Keito Tech Pvt. Ltd that makes various software that convert or store data in digital forms for customers.
• They own software named “Keito Capture Software” and its source code. However, they don’t possess the IPR Certificate for this code. Two employees of the company allegedly created the software.
• During the trial and testing of the software, the first informant appointed two employees to whom he gave complete access to all the company’s software.
• The employees resigned from the first informant’s company and then went on to open a company offering similar services.
• The petitioner later induced the first informant to provide his services and cheated the first informant by not taking on the services.

Prominent Arguments by the Advocates

• The petitioner’s counsel submitted that both parties have privately settled the dispute.
• The second respondent’s counsel acknowledged the party’s presence virtually and stated that he did not want to proceed with the FIR against the petitioner. The second respondent has also signed an affidavit of no objection for quashing the FIR.

Opinion of the Bench

• The bench stated that the matter is a private matter of a commercial nature and does not involve any element of public law. Even if the trial is conducted, no fruitful purpose would be served, and it would just add to the burden of criminal courts, which are already overburdened.
• Continuing the proceeding would only lead to abuse of the process of court, and thus, it is fit to quash the FIR.
• The bench noted the case of Madan Mohan Abbot v. State of Punjab [(2008) 4 SCC 582]. It discussed pending cases that overburden the courts to ensure no impediment is caused due to quashing of FIR.

Final Decision

• The bench accepted the petition and quashed the FIR.

Yagyanseni Acharya, an undergraduate student at VIT School of Law, Chennai, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2024.