Table of contents | |
Introduction | |
Essential Elements of Malicious Prosecution | |
Malicious Civil Proceedings | |
Conclusion |
Maliciously initiated legal proceedings can encompass a range of actions, including malicious prosecution, malicious arrest, malicious bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings (which are civil proceedings), malicious execution of legal orders against property, and malicious searches. Malicious prosecution specifically pertains to the wrongful and ill-intentioned initiation of criminal, bankruptcy, or liquidation proceedings against someone, lacking reasonable or probable cause. Essentially, malicious prosecution refers to a legal action brought by one person against another, driven by wrongful or improper motives and lacking any justifiable basis in terms of reasonableness or probability.
In the case of West Bengal State Electricity Board v. Dilip Kumar Ray, the Court provided the following definition for "malicious prosecution":
"Malicious prosecution refers to the initiation of a legal proceeding by one person against another, driven by wrongful or improper motives and without probable cause to sustain it."
In the same case, the Court also distinguished between "an action for malicious prosecution" and "an action for abuse of process" as follows:
"Malicious prosecution entails the malicious initiation of legal processes, while abuse of process involves the misuse of legal procedures for purposes other than those intended by the law, constituting an improper use of legally issued processes."
To bring a case for damages due to malicious prosecution, the plaintiff must establish several key elements:
In summary, for a successful claim of malicious prosecution, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant initiated proceedings against them without reasonable and probable cause, acted maliciously, saw the proceedings end in their favor, and experienced damage as a direct consequence of the prosecution.
In the case of Darbhangi Thakur v. Mahabir Prasad, it was established that, unlike malicious criminal prosecutions, there is generally no basis for taking legal action in the context of civil proceedings, even if they are maliciously initiated and lack reasonable cause.
In the case of Genu Ganapati v. Bhalchand Jivraj, the essential requirements for proving malicious abuse of civil proceedings were outlined:
Malicious proceedings are those legal actions initiated with a malicious intent. To bring a case for damages due to malicious prosecution, the plaintiff must establish specific elements, including the defendant's initiation of proceedings, the absence of reasonable and probable cause, the defendant's malicious intent, the termination of proceedings in the plaintiff's favor, and damages suffered as a direct result of the prosecution. However, the court should evaluate whether the lawsuit was filed with malicious intent based on the circumstances and facts of the case.
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