The Supreme Court in Amarsang Nathaji vs. Hardik Harshadbhai Patel, has said the mere fact that a person made a contradictory statement in a judicial proceeding was not by itself always sufficient to justify prosecution under Sections 199 and 200 of the Indian Penal Code. The apex court said it must be shown that the defendant has intentionally given a false statement at any stage of the judicial proceedings or fabricated false evidence for the purpose of using the same at any stage of the judicial proceedings. It also explained the procedure contemplated under Section 340(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. These observations were made by a Bench of Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice RF Nariman in an appeal against an order by Gujarat High Court wherein it had directed the Registrar (Judicial) to make complaint against a litigant in view of the findings recorded by the court for the offence under Sections 199 and 200 of the IPC. The high court had observed that the conduct of the lit...