Yes — and the Bombay High Court exercises this inherent power actively and extensively. Under Section 528 of the BNSS (the old Section 482 CrPC), the Bombay HC can quash an FIR, a chargesheet, or any criminal proceedings to prevent the abuse of the process of any court and to secure the ends of justice. For Nashik matters, the petition is filed at the principal seat of the Bombay HC in Mumbai — where Nashik district falls jurisdictionally.

The governing framework is State of Haryana v. Bhajan Lal, whose categories the Bombay HC applies in every quashing petition. Recognised grounds include: the FIR allegations, taken entirely at face value, disclose no cognisable offence; the allegations are inherently improbable and absurd; there is a clear legal bar to the prosecution; or the FIR is manifestly actuated by malice and registered solely to harass the accused in a private dispute. The Bombay HC has a particularly well-developed body of case law on the civil-criminal overlap — where an agricultural land dispute in Nashik's rural belt, a commercial transaction in the Ambad MIDC, or a real estate deal has been dressed up as a criminal complaint — and in these cases the court examines rigorously whether the allegation discloses genuine criminal intent or is merely a civil remedy sought through criminal pressure.

The Bombay HC can also quash proceedings in private disputes where parties have genuinely settled, following Gian Singh v. State of Punjab, where continuing the prosecution would serve no public purpose. The petition is filed at Mumbai, notice goes to the State of Maharashtra and the complainant, and the court may grant interim protection from arrest while the matter is heard. An important 2025 Supreme Court clarification: once the Magistrate takes cognizance of an offence, the correct route to quash is Section 528 BNSS rather than Article 226 of the Constitution — your petition must be framed under the right provision. The criminal advocates at the Nashik panel of Aapka Legal Advice can assess whether your FIR falls within the recognised quashing categories and frame the Bombay HC petition accordingly.