DALBIR SINGH Vs. TARO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) PRESENT petition under section 482 Cr.PC is for quashing of Complaint case no.199 dated 22.5.2007 titled as Taro Vs. Dalbir Singh & Ors., under section 3(x) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Attrocities) Act, 1989 and Sections 323, 452, 504 and 506 IPC pending in the court of JMIC, Amritsar and the summoning order dated 14.5.2009 and all the consequential proceedings arising therefrom on the basis of the compromise/Affidavit dated 23.7.2010 (Annexure P-3) arrived at between the petitioners and respondent. In the complaint, respondent-complainant levelled allegations against petitioners that all of them by forming unlawful assembly forcibly trespassed into her house and uttered derogatory and abusive language towards her. They called and abused her denoting her caste as she belongs to the most downtrodden category of the society. After recording of the preliminary evidence the trial court summoned the petitioners for offences punishable under Sections 3(x) of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Attrocities) Act 1989 read with Sections 452 and 506 Indian Penal Code. Upon notice respondent Taro has appeared. She has filed her reply by way of affdavit (Mark-A), which is taken on record stating therein that she has no objection if in terms of the compromise in shape of her affidavit dated 23.7.2010 (Annexure P-3) the aforesaid complaint and all the subsequent proceedings thereto are quashed. Said Taro is present in the court and she has been identified by her counsel Mr. Deepak Aggarwal, Advocate. Respondent Taro has admitted her reply in the shape of affidavit(Mark-A) as well as compromise in shape of her affidavit dated 23.7.2010 (Annexure P-3), contents thereof as well as her signatures on the same. Statement of the respondent has been separately recorded. A Full Bench of this Court in Kulwinder Singh and others v. State of Punjab and another, 2007(3) RCR (Criminal) 1052 has held that this Court, in appropriate cases, while exercising powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C., may quash an FIR disclosing the commission of nonCrl. compoundable offences. The relevant extracts read as under:- The only inevitable conclusion from the above discussion is that there is no statutory bar under the Cr.P.C., which can affect the inherent power of this Court under Section 482. Further, the same cannot be limited to matrimonial cases alone and the Court has the wide power to quash the proceedings even in non-compoundable offences notwithstanding the bar under Section 320 of the Cr.P.C., in order to prevent the abuse of law and to secure the ends of justice. Similar views were expressed by Hon'ble the Apex Court in Madan Mohan Abot v. State of Punjab 2008(4) SCC 582, the relevant extract of which is as under:- We need to emphasise that it is perhaps advisable that in disputes where the question involved is of a purely personal nature, the court should ordinarily accept the terms of the compromise even in criminal proceedings as keeping the matter alive with no possibility of a result in favour of the prosecution is a luxury which the courts, grossly overburdened as they are, cannot afford and that the time so saved can be utilised in deciding more effective and meaningful litigation. This is a common sense approach to the matter based on ground of realities and bereft of the technicalities of the law. Keeping in view the above settled legal position and taking into account the fact that both the parties have desired to live in peace and harmony and carry on with their lives without any ill will or rancour by resolving their differences and entering into the aforesaid compromise, it is evident that it is a fit case where there is no legal impediment in the way of the Court to exercise its inherent powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C., for quashing of the FIR in the interest of justice. Accordingly, the Complaint case no.199 dated 22.5.2007 titled as Taro Vs. Dalbir Singh & Ors., under section 3(x) of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Attrocities) Act, 1989 and Sections 323, 452, 504 and 506 IPC and the summoning order dated 14.5.2009 pending in the court of JMIC, Amritsar and all subsequent proceedings arising therefrom, are quashed.