Sandeep Singh Chahal Etc. v. State Of Punjab And Others
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH.
Date of Decision : 20.8.2015 Sandeep Singh Chahal and others ......Petitioners Vs.
State of Punjab and others ......Respondents ...
CORAM :
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAMESHWAR SINGH MALIK ...
Present :
Mr. Harjit Singh, Advocate for the petitioners. Ms. Manpreet Dhaliwal, AAG, Punjab.
Mr. Bhupinder Singh Gill, Advocate for respondents no.2 and 3.
...
1. To be referred to the Reporter or not ?
2. Whether the judgement should be reported in Digest ? RAMESHWAR SINGH MALIK, J The petitioners have approached this Court by way of instant petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short 'Cr.P.C.'), invoking its inherent jurisdiction, for quashing of FIR No.314 dated 26.12.2012 under Sections 406/498-A/313/120-B of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short), registered at Police Station City Ferozepur and the consequential proceedings arising therefrom, on the basis of compromise (Annexure P-2).
Notice of motion was issued.
In compliance of the order dated 29.5.2015 passed by this Court, the parties got their statements recorded before the learned trial court. Consequently, report dated 5.6.2015 sent by learned Chief judicial Magistrate, Ferozepur has been received which is available on record of the case alongwith
the statements of the parties. Learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ferozepur has reported that the parties have made their statements voluntarily and without any pressure. The compromise arrived at between the parties has been found to be a genuine one.
Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the parties have decided to bury the hatchet and are living peacefully. Learned counsel for the petitioners further submits that continuation of the impugned FIR and subsequent criminal proceedings arising therefrom, are liable to be quashed in the interest of justice.
In support of his contentions, learned counsel for the petitioners places reliance on judgments of this Court in Sudo Mandal @ Diwarak Mandal Vs. State of Punjab, 2011(2) RCR (Criminal) 453, Mehar Singh and another Vs. State of Punjab, 2010(2) RCR(Criminal) 167, Satish Sarin & others Vs. U.T., Chandigarh and another, 2014 (7) RCR (Crl.) 2657 (DB), Jasvinder Singh Vs. State of Punjab and another, 2013(1) RCR (Crl.) 310, Balbir Singh Vs. State of Punjab and another, 2011 (3) RCR (Crl.) 234, Kulwant Singh Vs. State of Punjab and another, 2011(3) RCR (Crl.) 266, Rajinder Singh Vs. State of Haryana and another, 2003(1) RCR (Crl.) 123, Gurwinder Singh @ Mintu Vs. State of Punjab, 2012 (3) RCR (Crl.) 360, Deepak Kumar Malhotra Vs. State of Punjab, CRM M-17827 of 2013 decided on 16.8.2013 and Ramesh Chand Bansal and others Vs.
State of Punjab, 2014(1) Law Herald 571. Learned counsel for the petitioners concluded by submitting that since the parties have now arrived at an amicable settlement and they have suffered their statements before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ferozepur, impugned FIR is liable to be quashed. Learned counsel for the respondent No.
that let the present petition be allowed, in view of the compromise already arrived at between the parties. The factual as well as legal aspect of the matter could not be denied by the learned State counsel also and rightly so, it being a matter of record.
Having heard the learned counsel for the parties and after going through the record of the case, this Court is of the considered opinion that it is a fit case for exercising the inherent jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C., so as to secure the ends of justice. It is so said because the parties have arrived at an out of Court settlement by way of compromise (Annexure-P2). The compromise is without any pressure and a genuine one. In such a situation, continuation of the prosecution would result in sheer abuse of process of law. The above said view taken by this Court also finds support from the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Shiji @ Pappu and others versus Radhika and another, 2012 (1) RCR (criminal) 9 and also from the larger Bench judgment of this Court in Kulwinder Singh and others versus State of Punjab and another reported as 2007 (3) RCR (criminal) 1052. The observations made by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in para 13 of the judgment in Shiji's case (supra), which can be gainfully followed in the present case, read as under:
"It is manifest that simply because an offence is not compoundable under Section 320 IPC is by itself no reason for the High Court to refuse exercise of its power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. That power can in our opinion be exercised in cases where there is no chance of recording a conviction against the accused and the entire exercise of a trial is destined to be an exercise in futility. There is a subtle distinction between compounding of offences by the parties
before the trial Court or in appeal on one hand and the exercise of power by the High Court to quash the prosecution under Section 482 Cr.P.C.on the other. While a Court trying an accused or hearing an appeal against conviction, may not be competent to permit compounding of an offence based on a settlement arrived at between the parties in cases where the offences are not compoundable under Section 320, the High Court may quash the prosecution even in cases where the offences with which the accused stand charged are non-compoundable. The inherent powers of the High Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. are not for that purpose controlled by Section 320 Cr.P.C. Having said so, we must hasten to add that the plenitude of the power under Section 482 Cr.P.C.
by itself, makes it obligatory for the High Court to exercise the same with utmost care and caution. The width and the nature of the power itself demands that its exercise is sparing and only in cases where the High Court is, for reasons to be recorded, of the clear view that continuance of the prosecution would be nothing but an abuse of the process of law. It is neither necessary nor proper for us to enumerate the situations in which the exercise of power under Section 482 may be justified. All that we need to say is that the exercise of power must be for securing the ends of justice and only in cases where refusal to exercise that power may result in the abuse of the process of law.
Procedure Code. Subject to the above, the High Court will have to consider the facts and circumstances of each case to determine whether it is a fit case in which the inherent powers may be invoked."
The law laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Shiji's case (supra) has been further reiterated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in its later judgments including in the cases of Jayrajsinh Digvijaysinh Rana v. State of Gujarat and another, 2012 (12) SCC 401, Gold Quest International Private Limited v. State of Tamil Nadu & Ors., 2014 (4) RCR (Crl) 206, Manohar Singh v. State of Madhya Pradesh and another, 2014 AIR (SC) 3649 and Narinder Singh and others v. State of Punjab and another, 2014 (6) SCC 466.
Reverting back to the facts of the present case, this Court has satisfied itself that the compromise arrived at between the parties is a genuine one. They have got their statements recorded before the learned trial court, without any pressure. In view of the genuine compromise arrived at between the parties and also in view of the report received from the learned trial court, this Court feels no hesitation to conclude that the continuation of the prosecution any further would be nothing but sheer abuse of the process of law. It would result in wastage of valuable time of the Court because no chance of conviction is left.
Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case noted above, coupled with the reasons aforementioned and to secure the ends of justice, FIR No.314 dated 26.12.2012 under Sections 406/498-A/313/120-B IPC registered at Police Station City Ferozepur and the consequential proceedings arising therefrom are ordered to be quashed, however, qua the
petitioners only.
Resultantly, with the above-said observations made, the instant petition stands allowed, however, with no order as to costs. 20.8.2015 (RAMESHWAR SINGH MALIK) GS JUDGE