FIR Quashed for Non-Heinous POCSO Offences Following Settlement and Amicable Compromise Between Parties

The petitioner was accused of enticing a minor girl for marriage, leading to the registration of Saria P.S. Case No. 222 of 2025 under Sections 96, 126(2), 115(2), 352, and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, and Sections 4 and 6 of the POCSO Act.

While the investigation was pending and before the submission of the charge sheet, the parties filed Interlocutory Application No. 5822 of 2026, stating that the FIR was lodged due to a misconception of facts and misinformation.

The informant (Opposite Party No. 2) acknowledged the petitioner’s innocence and entered into a compromise.

1. Whether the High Court should exercise its inherent power to quash an FIR involving POCSO Act allegations based on a private settlement/compromise between the parties.

The Court primarily exercised its inherent jurisdiction under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 (formerly Section 482 Cr.P.C.).

It relied on the guiding principles established by the Supreme Court in Parbatbhai Aahir @ Parbatbhai Bhimsinhbhai Karmur and Others vs. State of Gujarat and Another (2017) 9 SCC 641, which held that High Courts may quash proceedings in non-heinous, private disputes where a compromise makes the possibility of conviction remote and continuation would amount to an abuse of process.

The Court observed that despite the invocation of the POCSO Act, there were no allegations of penetrative or aggravated sexual assault, and the case essentially arose from a personal dispute settled amicably.

Applying the Parbatbhai Aahir framework, the Court determined that the offences involved were not heinous or indicative of "mental depravity".

Given the informant’s admission that the case was a result of misinformation, the Court reasoned that the chance of conviction was "remote and bleak" and that forcing the petitioner to face trial despite the settlement would cause extreme injustice and constitute an abuse of the legal process.

The Court allowed the criminal miscellaneous petition and quashed the FIR and the entire criminal proceeding in connection with Saria P.S. Case No. 222 of 2025 against the petitioner. Interlocutory Application No. 5822 of 2026 was consequently disposed of.