SOBAN Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Can criminal proceedings involving non-compoundable offence be quashed at post-conviction stage invoking the power u/s 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure upon a settlement between the convict and the victim? - is the short point falls for determination in this criminal appeal.

(2.) The appellant along with six others were prosecuted before the Court below for the offences punishable under Sections 143, 147, 149, 326, 307 r/w 149 of I.P.C. on the allegations that they formed themselves into an unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons and in prosecution of the common object of the assembly assaulted CW1 (victim) with an iron pipe causing injury on his head. After full fledged trial, the Court below found the appellant alone guilty of the offence punishable u/s 326 of I.P.C. and he was convicted for the said offence. He was found not guilty of other offences charged. The accused Nos.2 to 7 were found not guilty of all the offences charged against them and they were acquitted. The appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years and to pay a fine of Rs.6,000/-, in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for a further period of three months vide the impugned judgment. Challenging the said conviction and sentence, the appellant preferred the above appeal.

(3.) When the appeal came up for final hearing, the appellant filed Crl.M.A.No.1/2021 under Sections 482 and 320 of Cr.P.C. to quash the entire proceedings and to set aside the conviction and sentence on the ground that the entire dispute has been settled between him and the victim. The application has been supported by the affidavit sworn in by the victim.