Non-compoundable offences may be quashed under Section 482 CrPC after amicable civil settlement.

The applicants, Ravinder Kumar Sharma and Rakesh Kumar Sharma, invoked the High Court’s jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC seeking quashing of the charge-sheet dated 8 August 2019 and summoning order dated 26 August 2019 passed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rudrapur, in Criminal Case No. 5532 of 2019, State of Uttarakhand v. Rakesh Kumar Sharma and Others.

They had been summoned for offences under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC.

During the pendency of the petition, the applicants and respondent no. 2, Jagjeet Singh, amicably settled their dispute.

Respondent no. 2 appeared in person and confirmed that he did not wish to prosecute the applicants, while reserving his right to proceed against the other accused.

A joint compromise and supporting affidavit were placed on record.

The State objected that although Section 420 IPC was compoundable with the Court’s permission, Sections 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC were non-compoundable.

1. Whether the High Court could permit compounding and quash the criminal proceedings for non-compoundable offences under Section 482 CrPC when the dispute was essentially civil in nature and had been amicably settled between the applicants and the complainant?

2. Whether the charge-sheet and summoning order should be quashed qua the present applicants while permitting respondent no. 2 to pursue the case against the remaining accused?

The Court applied Section 482 CrPC, which preserves the High Court’s inherent power to prevent abuse of the process of court and secure the ends of justice.

It considered the statutory distinction between compoundable and non-compoundable offences under the CrPC, noting that Section 420 IPC could be compounded with the Court’s permission, whereas Sections 467, 468, 471 and 120-B IPC were non-compoundable.

Relying on B.S. Joshi v. State of Haryana, (2003) 4 SCC 675; Nikhil Merchant v. CBI, (2008) 9 SCC 650; Gian Singh v. State of Punjab, (2012) 10 SCC 303; and Dimpey Gujral v. Union Territory of Chandigarh, Transfer Petition (Criminal) No. 115 of 2012, decided on 6 December 2012, the Court held that proceedings involving non-compoundable offences may nevertheless be quashed under Section 482 CrPC where the dispute is predominantly civil or personal in nature and the parties have genuinely settled it.

The Court verified the settlement through the personal statement of respondent no. 2, the joint compromise, and his supporting affidavit, and found that he had voluntarily settled the dispute with the applicants and no longer wished to prosecute them.

Since the dispute appeared civil in nature and had been amicably resolved, the statutory bar on compounding non-compoundable offences did not prevent the exercise of the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction under Section 482 CrPC.

Applying the principles in the cited Supreme Court authorities, the Court held that continuation of the prosecution against the applicants would not serve the ends of justice.

The relief was limited to the applicants, as respondent no. 2 remained free to pursue the case against the other accused.

The criminal miscellaneous application was accordingly disposed of, and any pending application was also disposed of.