High Court may quash non-heinous criminal proceedings under Section 528 BNSS when parties settle private disputes amicably.

The petitioner filed this criminal miscellaneous petition seeking to quash the FIR, charge sheet, and the cognizance order dated 10.12.2020 in Thakurgangti P.S. Case No. 49 of 2016

The criminal proceedings arose from a dispute that the parties described as being "basically a dispute of civil nature"

During the pendency of the proceedings, the petitioner and the informant (Opposite Party No. 2) resolved their differences through the intervention of society members and village elders

They subsequently filed an Interlocutory Application (I.A. No. 6763 of 2026) supported by affidavits, stating that the informant no longer wished to proceed with the case due to the compromise

1. Whether the High Court should exercise its inherent power under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (formerly Section 482 Cr.P.C.) to quash criminal proceedings on the basis of a compromise between parties in a matter with a civil flavor

Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which saves the inherent power of the High Court to prevent abuse of the process of law and secure the ends of justice

Parbatbhai Aahir @ Parbatbhai Bhimsinhbhai Karmur and Others vs. State of Gujarat and Another (2017), which established that while heinous crimes (murder, rape) cannot be quashed via compromise, cases with "overwhelmingly and predominatingly civil flavour" or personal disputes where the chance of conviction is bleak may be quashed to secure the ends of justice

The Court observed that the offenses involved were neither heinous nor characterized by "mental depravity"

It noted that the litigation stemmed from a misunderstanding that had since been amicably settled

The Court accepted the joint submission of the parties that the dispute was essentially civil in nature and that, following the settlement, the probability of conviction was "remote and bleak"

Following the guidelines in Parbatbhai Aahir, the Court reasoned that continuing the criminal proceedings would cause undue hardship and oppression to the petitioner

Since the State expressed no objection to the quashing in light of the compromise, the Court determined that quashing the proceedings was necessary to prevent the abuse of the legal process

The Court ordered the quashing of the FIR, the entire criminal proceeding including the charge sheet, and the order taking cognizance dated 10.12.2020 in connection with Thakurgangti P.S. Case No. 49 of 2016

The criminal miscellaneous petition was allowed, and the interlocutory application was disposed of accordingly