CHENNAI: A private complaint and criminal proceedings initiated by ICICI Bank against a customer, who had availed himself of a personal loan, were quashed by the Madras High Court.

It said the bank was attempting to harass the accused.

Convinced that the bank had resorted to criminal complaint against Haja of Nagercoil instead of following the procedures recognised by law, vacation judge Justice T. Sudanthiram said: "If a complaint with such bald allegations are allowed to be proceeded, no distinction can be made among the genuine borrower and the fraudulent borrowers. Unless the complainant comes forward with specific allegation and averments to show that the borrower is not genuine, but fraudulent, no criminal action can proceed against the borrower simply for the reason that he had committed default in repayment or he is a chronic defaulter."

According to the bank, Mr. Haja had obtained a personal loan of Rs. 80,000 after agreeing to repay the sum in 48 instalments of Rs. 2,609 each. He proved to be a chronic defaulter with Rs. 49,171 still to be paid and several cheques returning dishonoured, it said.

Mr. Haja sought to quash the complaint on the ground that the amount said to be due towards the principal was highly inflated, and that there was no element of criminal intention on his part. The case was civil in nature, he said.

In his order, Mr. Justice Sudanthiram pointed out that the accused had already made part-payment of the loan amount and the bank had not stated how many cheques were dishonoured.

Also, the bank had come to the court even before the expiry of the four-year repayment period.

The requisite averments to make out a case of cheating and misappropriation were absolutely absent in the complaint lodged by the bank, he said, adding, "the bank is abusing the process of court by filing a private complaint without details."

He said the bank, having a branch in Nagercoil, which was the residential place of the accused, had chosen to file the complaint in Chennai.

"Though this court is not invalidating the jurisdiction, it is one another factor to show that the intention of the bank is to harass the accused by pulling him from Nagercoil to Chennai."

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