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2016 DIGILAW 796 (UTT)

Satnam Singh v. State of Uttarakhand

2016-11-08

U.C.DHYANI

body2016
JUDGMENT : U.C. Dhyani, J. Since the aforesaid criminal writ petitions have arisen out of the same incident, in which cross FIRs were lodged by the parties against each other, therefore, they are being decided together by this common judgment and order for the sake of brevity and convenience. 2. An FIR has been lodged against the accused-petitioners of criminal writ petition no. 1480 of 2016 for the offences punishable under Sections 147, 148, 427, 452, 307 IPC. Cross FIR has also been filed against the accused-petitioners of criminal writ petition no. 1481 of 2016 for the offences punishable under Sections 323, 324, 504, 506, 427, 147, 148, 307, 498A IPC and Section ¾ of the Dowry Prohibition Act. 3. Compounding application, being CLMA no. 11459 of 2016, has been filed by the parties in criminal writ petition no. 1480 of 2016 to indicate that they have buried their differences and have settled their dispute amicably. Joint compromise has been filed alongwith affidavits of Balwant Singh (petitioner no. 2) as well as of Harjeet Singh (one of the injured / complainant-respondent no. 3). Similarly, Compounding application, being CLMA no. 11461 of 2016, has also been filed by the parties in criminal writ petition no. 1481 of 2016 to indicate that they have buried their differences and have settled their dispute amicably. Joint compromise has been filed alongwith affidavits of Harjeet Singh (petitioner no. 3) as well as of Tahal Singh (one of the injured / complainant- respondent no. 3). 4. Accused-petitioners of criminal writ petition no. 1480 of 2016 are present in person before the Court, duly identified by their counsel Mr. Balvinder Singh, Advocate. Injured-respondent no. 3 Harjeet Singh as well as injured persons namely, Devendra Singh, Ravindra Singh, Palvinder Sohi @ Pinder, Balvinder Singh, Kashmir Singh and Kuldeep Kaur are also present in person before the Court, duly identified by their counsel Mr. Harshpal Sekhon, Advocate. Similarly, accused-petitioners of criminal writ petition no. 1481 of 2016 are also present in person before the Court, duly identified by their counsel Mr. Harshpal Sekhon, Advocate. Injured-respondent no. 3 Tahal Singh as well as injured persons namely, Balwant Singh, Satta Singh, Babu @ Jaswant Singh and Balvir Kaur are also present in person before the Court, duly identified by their counsel Mr. Balvinder Singh, Advocate. 5. The injured-respondent no. Harshpal Sekhon, Advocate. Injured-respondent no. 3 Tahal Singh as well as injured persons namely, Balwant Singh, Satta Singh, Babu @ Jaswant Singh and Balvir Kaur are also present in person before the Court, duly identified by their counsel Mr. Balvinder Singh, Advocate. 5. The injured-respondent no. 3 in both the criminal writ petitions stated that they as well as other injured persons are no more interested in prosecuting the accused persons (petitioners of both writ petitions), in as much as the dispute between the parties has been resolved amicably. They further stated that they may be permitted to compound the offences alleged against the accused persons. The statements given by both the injured-respondent no. 3 in the open Court has been affirmed on behalf of the accused persons. 6. The major offences which are non-compoundable are Sections 147, 148, 452, 307 in WPCRL no. 1480 of 2016. In the same way, major offences which are non-compoundable are Sections 307, 498A IPC and Section ¾ of the Dowry Prohibition Act in WPCRL no. 1481 of 2016. 7. The only question which is left for consideration of this Court is whether the complainant-respondent no. 3 (in both the writ petitions) as well as other injured persons should be permitted to compound such offences alleged against the accused-petitioners or not? 8. Learned counsel for the petitioners (in both the writ petitions) drew attention of this Court towards a decision rendered by Hon’ble Supreme Court in the cases of Dimpy Gujral vs Union Territory through Administrator U.T. Chandigarh and others, [2013 (123) AIC 119 (S.C.)] and Narendra Singh and others vs State of Punjab and another, (2014) 6 SCC 466 , where the said Court has permitted compounding of such type of offences, which are otherwise non-compoundable, within the scheme of Section 320 of Cr.P.C. 9. It will also be useful to reproduce the law laid down by Hon’ble Apex Court in Gian Singh vs. State of Punjab and another (2013) 1 SCC (Cri) 160, wherein it was observed, in the context of such cases, as under: “The position that emerges from the above discussion can be summarized 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 what cases power to quash the criminal proceeding or complaint of F.I.R. may be exercised where the offender and victim have settled their dispute would depend on the facts and circumstances of each case and no category can be prescribed. However, before exercise of such power, the High Court must have due regard to the nature and gravity of the crime. Heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape, dacoity, etc. cannot be fittingly quashed even though the victim or victim’s family and the offender have settled the dispute. Such offences are not private in nature and have serious impact on society. Similarly, any compromise between the victim and offender in relation to the offences under special statues like Prevention of Corruption Act or the offences committed by public servants while working in that capacity etc; cannot provide for any basis for quashing criminal proceedings involving such offences. But the criminal cases having overwhelmingly and pre-dominatingly civil flavour stand on different footing for the purposes of quashing, particularly the offences arising from commercial, financial, mercantile, civil, partnership or such like transactions or the offences arising out of matrimony relating to dowry, etc. or the family disputes where the wrong is basically private or personal in nature and the parties have resolved their entire dispute. In this category of cases, High Court may quash criminal proceedings if in its view, because of the compromise between the offender and victim, the possibility of conviction is remote and bleak and continuation of criminal case would put accused to great oppression and prejudice and extreme injustice would be caused to him by not quashing the criminal case despite full and complete settlement and compromise with the victim. 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 the criminal proceeding would tantamount to abuse of process of law despite settlement and compromise between the victim and 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 questions is in affirmative, the High Court shall be well within its jurisdiction to quash the criminal proceeding.” 10. While deciding whether to exercise its inherent powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India or not, timings of settlement play a crucial role. Those cases where the settlement is arrived at immediately after the alleged commission of offence and the matter is still under investigation, the High Court may accept the settlement to quash the criminal proceedings. It is because of the reason that at this stage the investigation is still on and even the charge-sheet has not been filed. 11. Reliance may also be placed in Dina Nath Prasad & others vs. State & Anr., decided by Hon’ble Delhi High Court on 12th January, 2016 in Criminal Misc. Case no. 111 of 2016, Judgment rendered by Hon’ble Allahabad High Court on 18.11.2015 in C-482 Petition No. 31751 of 2015, Rajendra Sharma and others vs. State of U.P. & another and the Judgment rendered by Punjab and Haryana High Court on 29.05.2012 in Crl. Misc. Case No. 22608 of 2011, Satwinder Singh & another vs. State of Punjab & others. 12. The reply to the question, posed by this Court in para no. 6 of this Judgment, therefore, is in the affirmative. Otherwise also, it will be a futile exercise if proceedings of the criminal case against the petitioners (of both the writ petitions) are kept pending when the parties have settled their disputes amicably. 13. Both the compounding application are allowed. As a consequence thereof, aforesaid criminal writ petitions are also allowed. Impugned FIR no. 167 of 2016 (case crime no. 38 of 2016) under Sections 147, 148, 427, 452, 307 IPC, as also impugned FIR no. 168 of 2016 (case crime no. 13. Both the compounding application are allowed. As a consequence thereof, aforesaid criminal writ petitions are also allowed. Impugned FIR no. 167 of 2016 (case crime no. 38 of 2016) under Sections 147, 148, 427, 452, 307 IPC, as also impugned FIR no. 168 of 2016 (case crime no. 39 of 2016) under Sections 323, 324, 504, 506, 427, 147, 148, 307, 498A IPC and Section ¾ of the Dowry Prohibition Act, both dated 08.10.2016 and both registered with police station, Chowki Paiga I.T.I., District Udham Singh Nagar are hereby quashed on the basis of compromise arrived at between the parties.