Kethavath Mangulal v. The State Of Telangana
HONOURABLE SRI J USTICE M.S.K . J AISWAL CRL.P.M.P.Nos. 14615 and 14616 of 2016 IN/AND CRIMINAL PETITION No. 13002 of 2016 ORDER:
The criminal petition is filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the proceedings in PRC.No. 4 of 2016 pending adjudication on the file of learned II Metropolitan Magistrate, Ranga Reddy District, at L.B.Nagar, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 376, 420, 417 and 506 IPC.
The 2nd respondent/de facto complainant and her counsel as well as the petitioner/accused and his counsel are also present. Heard both sides and perused the record.
Basing on the complaint lodged by the 2nd respondent/de facto complainant, the above crime was registered against the petitioner/accused.
It is submitted by both the parties that at the stage of trial of the aforesaid PRC, at the intervention of the elders and wellwishers, the parties have amicably settled their disputes concerning to the present crime and hence compromise may be recorded and criminal proceedings in the above crime may be quashed. It is further submitted that subsequent to the registration of the crime and pending adjudication of the aforesaid PRC, the petitioner/accused married the second respondent/defacto complainant and they are living together happily and in fact, on account of their wedlock, the second respondent/defacto complainant is pregnant by eight months as of now.
In Yogendra Yadav and others v. the State of Jharkhand1 the Supreme Court, in the matter of compromise of a noncompoundable offence, held as under: "The question before this Court is whether this Court can compound the offences under Sections 326 and 307 of the IPC, which are noncompoundable. Needless to say that offences which are non-compoundable cannot be compounded by the court. Courts draw the power of compounding offences from Section 320 of the Code. The said provision has to be strictly followed (Gian Singh v. State of Punjab {(2012) 10 SCC 303}). However, in a given case, the High Court can quash a criminal proceeding in exercise of its power under Section 482 of the Code having regard to the fact that the parties have amicably settled their disputes and the victim has no objection, even though the offences are noncompoundable.
In which cases the High Court can exercise its discretion to quash the proceedings depending on facts and circumstances of each case. Offences, which involve moral turpitude, grave offences like rape, murder etc. cannot be effaced by quashing the proceedings because that will have harmful effect on the society. Such offences cannot be said to be restricted to two individuals or two groups. If such offences are quashed, it may send wrong signal to the society. However, when the High Court is convinced that the offences are entirely personal in nature and, therefore, do not affect public peace or tranquility and where it feels that quashing of such proceedings on account of compromise would bring about peace and would secure ends of justice, it should not hesitate to quash them. In such cases, the prosecution becomes a lame prosecution.
Pursuing such a lame prosecution would be waste of time and energy. That will also unsettle the compromise and obstruct restoration of peace."
Having regard to the above submission and considering the fact that the parties have amicably settled the disputes among themselves out of Court and no useful purpose will be served 1 2015 (1) ALD (Crl.) 240 (Supreme Court)
even if the parties are driven to face investigation and the trial as they compromised, and following the decision reported in Gian Singh v. State of Punjab and another2 the criminal miscellaneous petitions are allowed and compromise is recorded, and consequently, proceedings in PRC No. 4 of 2016 pending adjudication on the file of learned II Metropolitan Magistrate, Ranga Reddy District, at L.B.Nagar, registered against the petitioner/accused are hereby quashed.
The Crl.P.MP.Nos.14615 and 14616 of 2016 and Crl.P.No. 13002 of 2016 are accordingly allowed.
------------------------------------ JUSTICE M.S.K. JAISWAL DATED 6th SEPTEMBER, 2016.
Msnrx 2 (2012) 10 SCC 303