Rachhpal Singh And Another v. State Of Punjab And Another
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT
CHANDIGARH **** Date of decision:24.08.2022 Rachhpal Singh and another ... Petitioners
Versus
State of Punjab and another ... Respondents
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIKAS BAHL
Present:
Mr. Gursharan Singh, Advocate for Mr. Sunil Kumar, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Kuldeep Singh, AAG, Punjab.
Mr. Amritpal Singh Maan, Advocate for respondent No.2.
VIKAS BAHL, J. (ORAL) This is a petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing of FIR No.67 dated 23.07.2018 registered under Sections 323/452/326/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Police Station Raja Sansi, District Amritsar Rural (Annexure P-1) and all the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom on the basis of compromise.
On 05.08.2022, this Court was pleased to pass the following order:- "This is a petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing of FIR No.67 dated 23.07.2018 registered under Sections 323/452/326/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Police Station Raja Sansi, District Amritsar Rural (Annexure P-1) and all the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom on the basis of compromise.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the present petition is the second petition and the first one had been dismissed on 16.05.2022 by this Court as respondent No.2, at that time, was not ready to give his statement and is now ready to give his statement with respect to compromise and liberty had been granted to file a fresh petition in case the compromise was still effectual and the parties are ready to
make the statement.
Notice of motion for 24.08.2022.
On asking of the Court, Mr. Sarabjit S. Cheema, AAG, Punjab appears and accepts notice on behalf of the respondent-State and Mr. Amritpal Singh Maan, Advocate appears on behalf of respondent No.2.
The parties are directed to appear before the Illaqa Magistrate/trial Court for recording their statements qua compromise within a period of 15 days.
The Illaqa Magistrate/trial Court is directed to submit a report on or before the next date of hearing containing the following information:-
1. Number of persons arrayed as accused.
2. Whether any accused is proclaimed offender?
3. Whether the compromise is genuine, voluntary and without any coercion or undue influence?
4. Whether the accused persons are involved in any other FIR or not?
5. The trial Court is also directed to record the statement of the Investigating Officer as to how many victims/complainants are there in the FIR.
05.08.2022 (VIKAS BAHL) JUDGE"
In pursuance to the said order, a report has been submitted by Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Ajnala. The relevant portion of the said report is reproduced hereinbelow:- "It is humbly submitted that as per the statements suffered by the complainant, accused and the IO and the judicial file placed before the Court, report is submitted as under: - 1.
There are two accused namely Rachhpal Singh and Vikramjit Singh @ Bikramjit Singh involved in the present FIR.
2.
As per record, accused are not declared as proclaimed offender in the present case.
3.
From the statements suffered by the complainant and accused, it appears that the compromise is genuine, voluntarily and entered into out of the free will of the parties.
4.
There is no other criminal case pending against the accused as per statement of accused and IO ASI Major Singh.
5.
As per statement of IO, there is only one victim/complainant namely Harjinder Singh.
Report is submitted as desired, please.
Yours faithfully, (Manpreet Kaur), PCS, Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Ajnala/UID No:PB0367"
A perusal of the above said report would show that the petitioners, complainant/respondent No.2 have appeared and suffered statements with respect to the compromise, which have been found to be voluntary, genuine, and out of free will.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has further submitted that the petitioners were not declared proclaimed offender in the present case. Learned State counsel has stated that he has no objection in case the FIR is quashed on the basis of compromise qua the petitioners. Learned counsel for respondent No.2 has again reiterated that the matter has been settled and the said compromise is in the interest of all the persons and would help in bringing out peace and amity between the two parties.
This Court has heard the learned counsel for the parties and has perused the file.
After perusing the report submitted by the trial Court, this Court finds that the matter has been amicably settled between the petitioners and the complainant. Since the matter has been settled and the parties have decided to live in peace, this Court feels that in order to secure the ends of justice, the criminal proceedings deserve to be quashed. As per the Full Bench judgment of this Court in "Kulwinder Singh and others Vs State of Punjab", 2007 (3) RCR (Criminal) 1052, it is held that 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 is of the opinion that the same is 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 the Apex Court in the case of "Gian Singh Vs. State of Punjab and another", 2012 (4) RCR (Criminal) 543, had also observed that in order to secure the ends of justice or to prevent the abuse of process of Court, inherent power can be used by this Court to quash criminal proceedings in which a compromise has been effected. The relevant portion of para 57 of the said judgment is reproduced hereinbelow:- "57.
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 view of what has been discussed hereinabove, this petition is allowed and FIR No.67 dated 23.07.2018 registered under Sections 323/452/326/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Police Station Raja Sansi, District Amritsar Rural (Annexure P-1) and all the subsequent proceedings emanating therefrom are ordered to be quashed, qua the petitioners. (VIKAS BAHL) August 24, 2022.
JUDGE Ishwar Singh Whether speaking / reasoned Yes/No Whether reportable Yes/No