Can the court recall its order? Bombay HC asks Neeru Randhawa

"Can the court recall its own order?" asked the Bombay high court while hearing a petition filed by actor and British citizen Neeru Randhawa seeking recall of its 2018 order by which the FIR was quashed against actor Armaan Kohli.

A division bench of Justices PB Varale and NR Borkar asked: “How can we recall the order by which the FIR was quashed?”

Randhawa and Kohli were in a live-in relationship. According to her plea, following a dispute on June 3, 2018, Kohli brutally assaulted her and pushed her down a staircase and she banged her head against the floor. Due to this, Randhawa claimed that she had sustained grievous injuries and had to undergo 15 sutures.

She registered an FIR against Kohli with the Santacruz police station. However, they reached a settlement in the presence of mutual friends, wherein it was agreed that Kohli will pay her 50 lakh compensation as the initial amount within three days.

Randhawa’s plea contends that Kohli had agreed to pay a total of Rs 1 crore. For the remaining amount, his brother, Rajnish, gave two post-dated cheques of Rs 25 lakh each towards a full and final settlement.

Kohli then filed a petition in HC seeking quashing of the FIR, to which Randhawa gave her consent. On June 15, 2018, another division bench of the HC quashed the FIR against Kohli.

After the Bombay high court quashed the FIR, Randhawa deposited the cheques. However both these cheques bounced due to “funds insufficient”, states her plea.

Randhawa filed a fresh petition contending that Kohli practised “fraud and deceit” in the court to get the FIR quashed and hence the order (quashing the FIR) be recalled. Their subsequent conduct shows that they had no intention to honour the assurance given to the court, she has claimed.

Kushal Mor and Kunal Bilaney, Randhawa’s lawyers, said that considering the conduct of the respondents the court should recall its order quashing the FIR.

To this justice, Varale questioned as to how can it recall an order which was passed by another bench of the HC.

Meanwhile, Kohli’s lawyer Taraq Sayad sought time to take instructions.

Kohli recently was granted bail in a drug case by the Bombay high court and has now come out of prison just a few days ago.