SAJIMON Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This revision petition has been filed challenging the judgment of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Peermade (for short, the trial court) in C.C.No.734/2016 dtd. 14/6/2022 and that of the III Additional Sessions Court, Thodupuzha (for short, the appellate court) in Crl.A.No.71/2022 dtd. 26/10/2024.

(2.) The revision petitioners are the accused and the 2nd respondent is the defacto complainant. The petitioners were prosecuted under Ss. 294(b), 323 and 324 read with 34 of the IPC. The trial court found the accused guilty under Sec. 324 of the IPC and convicted them for the said offence. They were sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of six months each and to pay a fine of ?1,000/- each, in default to suffer simple imprisonment for a period of one month. The appellate court dismissed the appeal confirming the conviction and sentence.

(3.) The 2nd respondent/defacto complainant sworn in an affidavit stating that the matter has been settled between the parties. The learned counsel for the petitioners as well as the 2nd respondent also submitted that the matter has been amicably settled between the parties. The learned counsel for the 2nd respondent submitted that in view of the settlement, the 2nd respondent has no objection in acquitting the petitioners. This Court in Soban v. State of Kerala (2021 (3) KHC 383) has held that if requirements of Sec. 482 of Cr.P.C were satisfied in the sense that it was necessary to prevent abuse of the process of any court or to secure the ends of justice, criminal proceedings involving non compoundable offence could be quashed notwithstanding the fact that the order of conviction was already passed against the accused provided the offence in question does not fall in the category of offences prohibited for compounding in terms of the pronouncement of the Apex Court in Gian Singh v. State of Punjab [2012 (4) KLT 108(SC)], Narinder Singh v. State of Punjab [(2014) 6 SCC 466] and State of Madhya Pradesh v. Laxmi Narayan [(2019) 5 SCC 688].