Vijay Chaurasiya And 3 Ors vs State Of U.P. And Another
2023 Latest Caselaw 28735 ALL

HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT ALLAHABAD
 
 


?Neutral Citation No. - 2023:AHC:201147
 
Court No. - 90
 

 
Case :- APPLICATION U/S 482 No. - 19948 of 2020
 

 
Applicant :- Vijay Chaurasiya And 3 Ors
 
Opposite Party :- State of U.P. and Another
 
Counsel for Applicant :- Sushil Kumar Mishra
 
Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
 

 
Hon'ble Dinesh Pathak,J.

1. Heard learned counsel for the applicants, learned counsel for the opposite party No.2 as well as learned AGA and perused the record.

2. The present applicants have invoked the inherent power of this Court under Section 482 CrPC beseeching the quashing of entire proceedings of Case No.2619 of 2020 (State Vs. Vijay Chaurasiya and others), arising out of Case Crime No.524 of 2018, under Sections 419, 420, 406, 323, 504, 506, 120B IPC, Police Station Kotwali, District Mahrajganj, pending in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mahrajganj in pursuance of the compromise dated 07.10.2020.

3. On the basis of order passed by the court competent in an application under Section 156(3) Cr.P.C., an FIR has been lodged against the present applicants. During pendency of the case, both the parties have arrived at compromise and settled their dispute amicably out of the Court. Having considered the amicable settlement, this Court, vide order dated 08.01.2021, has issued a direction for verification of compromise.

4. For ready reference, order dated 08.01.2021 is quoted herein below:-

"Sri C.P. Mishra, learned counsel has put in appearance on behalf of opposite party No.2 and filed short counter affidavit alongwith Vakalatnama, which is taken on record.

Heard Sri Sushil Kumar Mishra, learned counsel for applicants, learned AGA for the State as well as Sri C.P. Mishra, learned counsel for opposite party No.2 and perused the record.

The present 482 Cr.P.C. application has been filed to quash the criminal proceeding of Case No. 2619 of 2020 (State vs. Vijay Chaurasiya and others) arising out of Case Crime No.524 of 2018, under sections 419, 420, 406, 323, 504, 506, 120-B IPC, Police Station Kotwali, District Mahrajganj pending in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mahrajganj.

Learned counsel for the applicants submitted that the parties have settled their dispute amicably outside the Court and compromise deed has been executed between them.

Learned counsel appearing for the opposite party no. 2 does not dispute the aforesaid facts.

Accordingly, it is provided that the parties shall appear before the court below along with a copy of this order on the next date fixed and be permitted to file an application for verification of the original compromise document.

It is expected that the trial court may fix a date for the verification of the compromise entered into between the parties and pass an appropriate order with respect to the verification within a period of one month from today. Upon due verification, the court below may pass appropriate order in that regard and send a report to this Court.

List on 22.2.2021 in the additional cause list before appropriate Bench.

Till then no coercive measure shall be taken against the applicants.

This case shall not be treated as tied up or part heard to this Bench."

5. In pursuance of the order dated 08.01.2021 passed by this Court, learned Chief Judicial, Maharajganj has submitted its verification report dated 10.02.2021 along with copy of the compromise verification order dated 19.01.2021 and copy of the compromise application.

6. Perusal of the compromise verification order dated 19.01.2021 reveals that both the parties were present personally before the court below and they have been identified by their respective counsel. The contents of compromise has been spelled out to the parties concerned, who have admitted the factum of the compromise and stated that they voluntarily entered into compromise without any duress.

7. Learned counsel for the applicants has filed certified copy of the compromise and compromise verification order endorsed on the reverse side of the first page of the compromise as Annexure No.SA-1 to the supplementary affidavit dated 24.03.2023.

8. Learned counsel for the applicants submits that, in the eventuality of amicable settlement arrived at between the parties and the verification of said compromise by the court competent, the instant application may be allowed and entire criminal proceeding may be quashed. It is further submitted that both the parties have entered into compromise out of their own volition without any duress and buried the hatchet. It is further submitted that now there is no dispute exists between the parties and they have no grudges between them against each other. To quash the cognizance order as well as criminal proceeding, learned counsel for the applicants has relied upon the following judgments of the Hon'ble Apex Court :-

(i) B.S.Joshi & Others Vs. State of Haryana & Others; (2003) 4 SCC 675.

(ii) Nikhil Merchant Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation; (2008) 9 SCC 667.

(iii) Manoj Sharma Vs. State & Others; (2008) 16 SCC 1.

(iv) Gyan Singh Vs. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303.

(v) Narindra Singh & Others Vs. State of Punjab (2014) 6 SCC 466.

9. In a recent judgment passed by a Three Judges' Bench of the Apex Court in the Case of Parbatbhai Aahir alias Parbatbhai Bhimsinhbhai Karmur and others Vs. State of Gujarat and another, reported in AIR 2017 SC 4843, Hon'ble Supreme Court has summarized the ratio of all the cases decided earlier with respect to quashing of F.I.R./charge-sheet/criminal proceeding on the ground of settlement between the parties and expounded the ten categories in which application under Section 482 could be entertained for quashing the F.I.R./charge-sheet/criminal proceeding on the basis of compromise. Para no. 15 of the said judgement summarizing the proposition in this respect is reproduced below:-

"15. (i) Section 482 preserves the inherent power of the High Court to prevent an abuse of the process of any court or to secure the ends of justice. The provision does not confer new powers. It only recognises and preserves powers which inhere in the High Court;

(ii) The invocation of the jurisdiction of the High Court to quash a First Information Report or a criminal proceeding on the ground that a settlement has been arrived at between the offender and the victim is not the same as the invocation of jurisdiction for the purpose of compounding an offence. While compounding an offence, the power of the court is governed by the provisions of Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The power to quash under Section 482 is attracted even if the offence is non-compoundable.

(iii) In forming an opinion whether a criminal proceeding or compliant should be quashed in exercise of its jurisdiction under Section 482, the High Court must evaluate whether the ends of justice would justify the exercise of the inherent power;

(iv) While the inherent power of the High Court has a wide ambit and plenitude it has to be exercised;(i) to secure the ends of justice or (ii) to prevent an abuse of the process of any court;

(v) The decision as to whether a complaint or First Information Report should be quashed on the ground that the offender and victim have settled the dispute, revolves ultimately on the facts and circumstances of each case and no exhaustive elaboration of principles can be formulated;

(vi) In exercise of the power under Section 482 and while dealing with a plea that the dispute has been settled, the High Court must have due regard to the nature and gravity of the offence. Heinous and serious offences involving mental depravity or offences such as murder, rape and dacoity cannot approximately be quashed though the victim or the family of the victim have settled the dispute. Such offences are, truly speaking, not private in nature but have a serious impact upon society. The decision to continue with the trial in such cases is founded on the overriding element of public interest in punishing persons for serious offences;

(vii) As distinguished from serious offences, there may be criminal cases which have an overwhelming or predominant element of a civil dispute. They stand on a distinct footing insofar as the exercise of the inherent power to quash is concerned;

(viii) Criminal cases involving offences which arise from commercial, financial, mercantile, partnership or similar transactions with an essentially civil flavour may in appropriate situations fall for quashing where parties have settled the dispute;

(ix) In such a case, the High Court may quash the criminal proceeding if in view of the compromise between the disputants, the possibility of a conviction is remote and the continuation of a criminal proceeding would cause oppression and prejudice; and

(x) There is yet an exception to the principle set out in propositions (viii) and (ix) above. Economic offences involving the financial and economic well-being of the state have implications which lie beyond the domain of a mere dispute between private disputants. The High Court would be justified in declining to quash where the offender is involved in an activity akin to a financial or economic fraud or misdemeanour. The consequences of the act complained of upon the financial or economic system will weigh in the balance."

10. Learned AGA has no objection, in case, the instant application is decided by this Court on the basis of compromise took place between the parties, which is duly verified by the court concerned.

11. Learned counsel for the opposite party No. 2 has nodded the factum of the compromise entered into between the parties and he has no objection, if the instant application is decided finally on the basis of the said compromise. He also submits that compromise was verified in presence of both the parties, who have voluntarily entered into compromise and opposite party no. 2 does not wants to prosecute the present case against the applicants any more as no dispute remains between the parties.

12. Having considered the compromise verification report, compromise verification order and with the assistance of the aforesaid guidelines, keeping in view the nature of gravity and severity of the offence, which are more particular in private dispute, it is deemed proper that in order to meet the ends of justice, the present proceeding should be quashed. In result, dispute between the parties will put to an end, peace will be resorted and relationship between them will be smooth. No useful purpose would be served to keep the present matter pending inasmuch as both the parties have buried the hatchet and as the time passes, it will be difficult to prove the guilt of the accused. The continuation of criminal proceeding would cause oppression and prejudice.

13. In view of the aforesaid pronouncements of the Hon'ble Apex Court and in the light of the compromise arrived at between the parties, which has been duly verified by the concerned court below, the present application under Section 482 Cr.P.C. is hereby allowed. The entire criminal proceeding of the aforementioned case is hereby quashed.

14. Let a copy of the order be transmitted to the concerned lower Court for necessary action.

Order Date :- 16.10.2023

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