Arvind Singh Sangwan, J
By way of the present petition, filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C., the petitioners have prayed for quashing of FIR No. 0079 dated 31.08.2017, under
Sections 420, 406 and 120-B of the IPC, registered at Police Station Sadar Ahmedgarh, District Sangrur (Annexure P-1) and all the subsequent
proceedings arising therefrom, on the basis of the compromise dated 06.03.2019 (Annexure P-3) entered into between the parties.
Vide order dated 27.03.2019, the parties were directed to appear before the trial Court and the trial Court was directed to record the statements of the
parties and submit a report regarding number of persons arrayed as accused in the FIR; whether any accused is proclaimed offender; whether the
compromise is genuine, voluntary and without any coercion or undue influence and whether any accused person is involved in any other FIR. The trial
Court was also directed to record the statement of the Investigating Officer as to how many victims/complainants are there in the FIR.
A report dated 15.05.2019 has been submitted by the JMIC, Malerkotla, wherein it has been reported that statement of the petitioners and respondent
No.2 have been recorded and statements made by the parties in the Court reveal that they have voluntarily entered into a compromise and the Court is
satisfied that the parties have amicably settled their dispute without any fear, pressure, threat or coercion and out of their free will. The trial Court has
also recorded the statement of the Investigating Officer SI Bashir who has stated that there are total four accused persons, namely Amandeep Singh,
Barinder Singh, Harjit Singh and Krishan Singh, out of whom, accused Amandeep Singh was declared a proclaimed offender on 31.10.2018 and
thereafter, he was arrested on 14.12.2018. Investigating Officer further stated that accused Barinder Singh and Harjit Singh are not the proclaimed
offenders and there is no other complainant/victim in this FIR except the present one.
As per the Full Bench judgment of this Court in Kulwinder Singh and others Vs. State of Punjab, 2007 (3) RCR (Criminal) 105,2 it is held that the
High Court has power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to allow the compounding of non-compoundable offence and quash the prosecution where the High
Court feel that the same was required to prevent the abuse of the process of law or otherwise to secure the ends of justice. This power of quashing is
not confined to matrimonial disputes alone.
Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Gian Singh Vs. State of Punjab and another, 2012 (4) RCR (Criminal) 543, has held as under:-
“The position that emerges from the above discussion can be summarised thus: the power of the High Court in quashing a criminal proceeding or
FIR or complaint in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction is distinct and different from the power given to a criminal court for compounding the offences
under Section 320 of the Code. Inherent power is of wide plenitude with no statutory limitation but it has to be exercised in accord with the guideline
engrafted in such power viz; (i) to secure the ends of justice or (ii) to prevent abuse of the process of any Court. In what cases power to quash the
criminal proceeding or complaint or F.I.R may be exercised where the offender and victim have settled their dispute would depend on the facts and
circumstances of each case and no category can be prescribed. However, before exercise of such power, the High Court must have due regard to the
nature and gravity of the crime. Heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape, dacoity, etc. cannot be fittingly
quashed even though the victim or victim’s family and the offender have settled the dispute. Such offences are not private in nature and have
serious impact on society. Similarly, any compromise between the victim and offender in relation to the offences under special statutes like Prevention
of Corruption Act or the offences committed by public servants while working in that capacity etc; cannot provide for any basis for quashing criminal
proceedings involving such offences. But the criminal cases having overwhelmingly and predominatingly civil flavour stand on different footing for the
purposes of quashing, particularly the offences arising from commercial, financial, mercantile, civil, partnership or such like transactions or the
offences arising out of matrimony relating to dowry, etc. or the family disputes where the wrong is basically private or personal in nature and the
parties have resolved their entire dispute. In this category of cases, High Court may quash criminal proceedings if in its view, because of the
compromise between the offender and victim, the possibility of conviction is remote and bleak and continuation of criminal case would put accused to
great oppression and prejudice and extreme injustice would be caused to him by not quashing the criminal case despite full and complete settlement
and compromise with the victim. In other words, the High Court must consider whether it would be unfair or contrary to the interest of justice to
continue with the criminal proceeding or continuation of the criminal proceeding would tantamount to abuse of process of law despite settlement and
compromise between the victim and wrongdoer and whether to secure the ends of justice, it is appropriate that criminal case is put to an end and if the
answer to the above question(s) is in affirmative, the High Court shall be well within its jurisdiction to quash the criminal proceeding.â€
Since the parties have arrived at a compromise and have decided to live in peace, no useful purpose would be served in allowing the criminal
proceedings to continue.
In view of the above discussion, present petition is allowed and FIR No. 0079 dated 31.08.2017, under Sections 420, 406 and 120-B of the IPC,
registered at Police Station Sadar Ahmedgarh, District Sangrur (Annexure P-1) and all the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom are ordered to
be quashed qua petitioners Barinder Singh and Harjeet Singh only, however, subject to payment of costs of `5,000/- to be deposited with the District
Legal Services Authority, Sangrur.
