Punjab-Haryana High Court
Hardeep Kaur And Ors vs State Of Punjab And Others on 28 July, 2022
CRM M-15380 of 2022 1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
AT CHANDIGARH
294 CRM M-15380 of 2022
Date of Decision: July 28, 2022
Hardeep Kaur & ors. ...Petitioners
Vs.
State of Punjab & others ...Respondents
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIKAS BAHL
Present : Mr. Gaurav Sharma, Advocate
for the petitioners.
Mr. Sukhbeer Singh, Asst. A.G., Punjab.
Mr. B.S.Aulakh, Advocate
for respondents No.2 & 3.
VIKAS BAHL, J. (Oral)
This is a petition under Section 482 of Cr.P.C. for quashing
of FIR No.255 dated 25.09.2019 registered under Sections 452/323/34 of
the Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Police Station Lehra, District Sangrur and
all the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom on the basis of
compromise.
On 18.04.2022, a Coordinate Bench of this Court was
pleased to pass the following order:-
"By filing this petition, quashing of FIR No. 255 dated
25.9.2019 registered under Sections 452, 323, 34 IPC at
Police Station Lehra, District Sangrur and other
consequential proceedings arising therefrom qua petitioners
has been sought on the basis of compromise.
Notice of motion.
Mr. B.S. Sewak, Additional A.G. Punjab accepts notice
on behalf of respondent No. 1 State.
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Parties may appear before learned trial Court/Illaqa
Magistrate concerned on 4.5.2022 or any other date
convenient to said Court and get their statements recorded
with regard to compromise. The original compromise shall
be produced before the said court. In the event of their
statements being recorded, the Court will send copies of
same to this Court before next date of hearing alongwith its
report :
i) regarding genuineness and voluntary nature of
compromise ;
ii) whether all accused/petitioners are appearing before the
Court or are on bail; and
iii) whether any other proceeding is pending against the
accused/ petitioners.
Adjourned to 28.7.2022. "
In pursuance of the abovesaid order, a report has been
submitted by the Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Moonak (Sangrur). The
relevant portion of the said report is reproduced hereinbelow:-
"As per their statements, my report as desired is as
under :-
(i) As per the statements of parties, the compromise
appears to be genuine, entered into voluntarily and
without any coercion and undue influence.
(ii)As per the statement of IO, all accused on bail in
this case.
(iii)As per the statement of IO, no any other
proceeding is pending against the above-named
accused except this FIR.
Report is submitted please.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/- (Gurinder Pal Singh)
Judicial Magistrate 1st Class,
Moonak (Sangrur). (UID-PB0483"
A perusal of the said report would show that the compromise
has been found to be genuine, without any pressure or undue influence. It
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has been stated that the statements of the complainant as well as the
accused have been recorded in the case and both have stated that the
matter has been compromised and they have no objection in case the FIR
is quashed. It is further stated that the statement of the complainant has
been made voluntarily without any fear, coercion or pressure.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the
petitioners were not declared proclaimed offenders in the present case
and there are no other cases pending against the petitioners. Learned
counsel for the State, as per instructions has stated that these facts are
correct.
Learned counsel for respondents No.2 & 3 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", reported as 2007 (3) RCR
(Criminal) 1052, it is held that High Court has power under Section 482
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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", reported as 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. XXX---XXX"
In view of what has been discussed hereinabove, the petition
is allowed and FIR No.255 dated 25.09.2019 registered under Sections
452/323/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 at Police Station Lehra,
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District Sangrur and all the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom on
the basis of compromise, are ordered to be quashed, qua the petitioners.
July 28, 2022 (VIKAS BAHL)
amit rana JUDGE
Whether reasoned/speaking : Yes/No
Whether reportable : Yes/No
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