Mahavir & Ors vs State & Ors
2016 Latest Caselaw 1332 Del

*   IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+   CRL.M.C. 4974/2015
                       Date of Decision : February 19th, 2016
    MAHAVIR & ORS                               ..... Petitioner
                Through      Mr.O.P. Saxena, Advocate.
                versus
    STATE & ORS                                 ..... Respondent
                Through      Mr.Satya Narayan, APP for the State.
                             Respondent No.2 in person.

           CORAM:
           HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE P.S.TEJI

    P.S.TEJI, J.

1. The present petition under Section 482 Cr.P.C. has been filed

by the petitioners, namely, Sh. Mahaveer, Sh. Sagar, Sh. Neelu Singh,

Sh. Sagar, Sh. Godu, Sh. Vimal and Sh. Surinder quashing of FIR

No.220/2014 dated 12.04.2014, under Sections 308/509/34 IPC

registered at Police Station Anand Vihar on the basis of the

compromise deed arrived at between the petitioners and the

respondent no.2, namely, Sh. Ashok Kumar on 25.04.2014.

2. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent-State

submitted that the respondent no.2, present in the Court has been

identified to be the complainant/first informant in the FIR in question

by Inspector Jeewat Ram.

3. The factual matrix of the present case is that the FIR in question

was lodged by the complainant on the allegation that on 11.04.2014 at

about 9:30 pm, when the complainant was going for a walk along

with his wife, the accused persons- Sagar, Mahaveer and Modu

passed some bad remarks on his wife. When the complainant objected

to the same, they all started abusing him and his wife in filthy

language. Thereafter, a quarrel started between the complainant and

the accused persons. When the wife of the complainant intervened,

the accused-Sagar caught hold of her hair and tore her clothes and

pushed her due to which she fell down. Then Sagar hit the

complainant on his head with a rod.

Thereafter, the respondent no.2 lodged the FIR in question

against the petitioners. Later on, both the parties agreed to withdraw

the said complaint and settled their disputes.

4. Respondent No.2 present in the Court, submitted that the

dispute between the parties has been amicably resolved with the

intervention of family, friends and well-wishers. As per the

compromise deed, it has been agreed that both parties shall forget the

incident and shall not pursue the proceedings culminating from the

FIR in question. It has been agreed that they shall withdraw the cases

filed by them against each other and shall cooperate with each other in

getting the same quashed before this Court. It is further been agreed

that both parties shall maintain peace and calm in the village &

society in the future. Respondent No.2 affirmed the contents of the

aforesaid settlement and of his affidavit dated 30.11.2015 supporting

this petition. In the affidavit, the respondent no.2 has stated that he

has no objection if the FIR in question is quashed. All the disputes

and differences have been resolved through mutual consent. Now no

dispute with petitioners survives and so, the proceedings arising out of

the FIR in question be brought to an end. Statements of respondent

No.2 and Smt. Barkha- wife of respondent no.2 have been recorded in

this regard in which they stated that they have entered into a

compromise with the petitioners and have settled all the disputes with

them. They further stated that they have no objection if the FIR in

question is quashed.

5. In Gian Singh v. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303 Apex

Court has recognized the need of amicable resolution of disputes in

cases like the instant one, by observing as under:-

"61. 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 proceedings

or continuation of criminal proceedings would tantamount to abuse of process of law despite settlement and compromise between the victim and the 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 the affirmative, the High Court shall be well within its jurisdiction to quash the criminal proceedings."

6. The aforesaid dictum stands reiterated by the Apex Court in a

recent judgment in Narinder Singh v. State of Punjab (2014) 6 SCC

466. The relevant observations of the Apex Court in Narinder Singh

(Supra) are as under:-

"29. In view of the aforesaid discussion, we sum up and lay down the following principles by which the High Court would be guided in giving adequate treatment to the settlement between the parties and exercising its power under Section 482 of the Code while accepting the settlement and quashing the proceedings or refusing to accept the settlement with direction to continue with the criminal proceedings: 29.1 Power conferred under Section 482 of the Code is to be distinguished from the power which lies in the Court to compound the offences under Section 320 of the Code. No doubt, under Section 482 of the Code, the High Court has inherent power to quash the criminal proceedings even in those cases which are not compoundable, where the parties have settled the matter between themselves. However, this power is to be exercised sparingly and with caution. 29.2. When the parties have reached the settlement and on that basis petition for quashing the criminal proceedings is filed, the guiding factor in such cases would be to secure:

(i) ends of justice, or

(ii) to prevent abuse of the process of any court.

While exercising the power the High Court is to form an opinion on either of the aforesaid two objectives. 29.3. Such a power is not to be exercised in those prosecutions which involve heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape, dacoity, etc. Such offences are not private in nature and have a serious impact on society. Similarly, for the offences alleged to have been committed under special statute like the Prevention of Corruption Act or the offences committed by public servants while working in that capacity are not to be quashed merely on the basis of compromise between the victim and the offender.

29.4. On the other hand, those criminal cases having overwhelmingly and predominantly civil character, particularly those arising out of commercial transactions or arising out of matrimonial relationship or family disputes should be quashed when the parties have resolved their entire disputes among themselves.

7. The inherent powers of the High Court ought to be exercised to

prevent the abuse of process of law and to secure the ends of justice.

The respondent no.2 agreed to the quashing of the FIR in question and

has stated that the matter has been settled out of his own free will. As

the matter has been settled and compromised amicably, so, there

would be an extraordinary delay in the process of law if the legal

proceedings between the parties are carried on. So, this Court is of

the considered opinion that this is a fit case to invoke the jurisdiction

under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to prevent the abuse of process of law and

to secure the ends of justice.

8. The incorporation of inherent power under Section 482 Cr.P.C.

is meant to deal with the situation in the absence of express provision

of law to secure the ends of justice such as, where the process is

abused or misused; where the ends of justice cannot be secured;

where the process of law is used for unjust or unlawful object; to

avoid the causing of harassment to any person by using the provision

of Cr.P.C. or to avoid the delay of the legal process in the delivery of

justice. Whereas, the inherent power is not to be exercised to

circumvent the express provisions of law.

9. It is settled law that the inherent power of the High Court under

Section 482 Cr.P.C. should be used sparingly. The Hon'ble Apex

Court in the case of State of Maharashtra through CBI v. Vikram

Anatrai Doshi and Ors. MANU/SC/0842/2014 and in the case of

Inder Singh Goswami v. State of Uttaranchal MANU/SC/0808/2009

has observed that powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. must be

exercised sparingly, carefully and with great caution. Only when the

Court comes to the conclusion that there would be manifest injustice

or there would be abuse of the process of the Court if such power is

not exercised, Court would quash the proceedings.

10. It is a well settled law that where the High Court is convinced

that the offences are entirely personal in nature and therefore do not

affect public peace or tranquillity 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, pursuing prosecution would be waste of time and

energy. Non-compoundable offences are basically an obstruction in

entering into compromise. In certain cases, the main offence is

compoundable but the connected offences are not. In the case of B.S.

Joshi and others v. State of Haryana and another 2003 (4) SCC 675

the Hon'ble Apex Court observed that even though the provisions of

Section 320 Cr.P.C. would not apply to such offences which are not

compoundable, it did not limit or affect the powers under Section 482

Cr.P.C. The Hon'ble Apex Court laid down that if for the purpose of

securing the ends of justice, quashing of FIR becomes necessary,

section 320 Cr.P.C. would not be a bar to the exercise of power of

quashing. In the nutshell, the Hon'ble Apex Court justified the

exercise of powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to quash the

proceedings to secure the ends of justice in view of the special facts

and circumstances of the case, even where the offences were non-

compoundable.

In the light of the aforesaid, this Court is of the view that

notwithstanding the fact that the offence under Section 308 IPC is a

non-compoundable offence, there should be no impediment in

quashing the FIR under this section, if the Court is otherwise satisfied

that the facts and circumstances of the case so warrant.

11. In the facts and circumstances of this case and in view of

statement made by the respondent No.2, the FIR in question warrants

to be put to an end and proceedings emanating thereupon need to be

quashed.

12. Accordingly, this petition is allowed and FIR No.220/2014

dated 12.04.2014, under Sections 308/509/34 IPC registered at Police

Station Anand Vihar and the proceedings emanating therefrom are

quashed against the petitioners.

13. This petition is accordingly disposed of.

(P.S.TEJI) JUDGE FEBRUARY 19, 2016 dd