The High Court of Madhya Pradesh recently held that the Complainant in a case under the Negotiable Instruments Act can amend/modify his complaint. Regarding the stage and the extent to which such modifications can be allowed, the Court opined that a simple infirmity, not causing any prejudice to the accused may be allowed at any stage.

The bench comprising of Justice D.K. Paliwal observed-

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CrPC Does Not Bar Amendment Of Complaint, Court May Allow Such Request If No Prejudice Is Caused To Other Side: Madhya Pradesh HC

By - Zeeshan Thomas

Update: 2022-08-18 07:52 GMT

Madhya Pradesh High Court- Principal Seat at Jabalpur

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The High Court of Madhya Pradesh recently held that the Complainant in a case under the Negotiable Instruments Act can amend/modify his complaint. Regarding the stage and the extent to which such modifications can be allowed, the Court opined that a simple infirmity, not causing any prejudice to the accused may be allowed at any stage.

The bench comprising of Justice D.K. Paliwal observed-

It is undisputed that there is no specific provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure dealing with the amendment of the complainant. At the same time, there is also no bar under the Cr.P.C against permitting a complainant to amend his complaint.…in wake of above discussion, it is apparent that Courts below have not committed any error in passing the impugned orders as amendment sought to be made by complainant relates to mere curing a simple infirmity, which has resulted in no prejudice to the accused and same may be allowed by the Court at any stage of the proceedings as the same does not change the nature of the complaint and is mean to cure the curable defects.

The facts of the case were that the Respondent/Complainant had filed a complaint case under Section 138 N.I. Act before the lower court. However, he wrongly mentioned the bank's name as PNB instead of HDFC Bank. He then moved an application to amend his complaint to change the name of the bank. The lower court allowed his application for amendment. A revision against this order was dismissed. Hence, the Applicant-accused moved the instant petition under Section 482 CrPC.