A three-judge bench of the Bombay High Court has clarified that it is not permissible to ordinarily set aside the conviction for non-compoundable offences at an appellate or revisional stage, only on the ground of compromise between the parties.
The bench comprising of Justice AS Chandurkar, Justice Vinay Joshi and Justice NB Suryavanshi said HC should exercise powers under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to set aside such convictions “only in rarest of rare cases,” when found necessary to prevent the abuse of the process of the court or to secure the ends of justice.
The bench said any compromise entered into post-conviction for a non-compoundable offence cannot, by itself, result in acquittal of the accused. “Similarly, the court has no power to compound an offence which is not permitted to be compounded under Section 320 of the CrPC,” the bench added.
The compromise entered into, therefore, is just a mitigating factor, the bench observed, adding that such compromise can be taken into account by the appeal or revisional court to impose an appropriate sentence.
The three-judge bench was hearing a reference - whether the power under Section 482 CrPC ought to be exercised for setting aside the conviction altogether upon a settlement between the convict and the victim.
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