Uttarakhand HC Quashes FIR Against Petitioners, Including Attempt-To-Murder Charge, After Complainant And Injured Parties Settle

The petitioners challenged FIR No. 289 of 2026, registered at Police Station Gadarpur, District Udham Singh Nagar, for offences under Sections 109(1), 115(2), 191(1), 117(2), 309(4), 324(2), 351(3) and 352 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

They sought quashing on the basis of a compromise with respondent No. 3, the informant. The parties filed a joint compounding application supported by affidavits; the informant and injured persons stated that they wished to resolve the dispute and not pursue the prosecution.

The State objected that the offences were non-compoundable.

Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure governs compounding, and non-compoundable offences cannot be compounded under that provision.

However, under the inherent power recognised by Section 482 of the Code, the High Court may quash criminal proceedings in an appropriate case where the parties have settled their dispute.

As stated in Yogendra Yadav v. State of Jharkhand, (2014) 9 SCC 653, and reiterated in Jaiveer Malik & Another v. State of Delhi, Criminal Appeal Nos. 864–866 of 2024, quashing may be appropriate where the offences are personal in nature, do not affect public peace or tranquillity, and quashing would secure the ends of justice; offences of grave societal concern, such as murder or rape, ordinarily cannot be effaced by compromise.

The Court considered the parties’ settlement, the informant’s no-objection, and affidavits from the injured persons—including those lodged in jail—stating that they did not wish to continue the prosecution.

Applying the principles in Yogendra Yadav and Jaiveer Malik, it concluded that the settlement left only a remote or bleak possibility of conviction and that continuing the proceedings would be unfair or contrary to the interests of justice.

It quashed FIR No. 289 of 2026 and all subsequent proceedings arising from it qua the petitioners, allowed the criminal writ petition, and disposed of any pending applications.