T.S.THAKUR - (1.) LEAVE granted.
(2.) THIS appeal arises out of an order passed by the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam, whereby Criminal M.C. no. 3715 of 2010 filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, with a prayer for quashing criminal proceedings in FIR No.6/2010 alleging commission of offences punishable under Sections 354 and 394 of the IPC, has been dismissed. The High Court has taken the view that the offences with which the appellants stand charged, are not 'personal in nature' so as to justify quashing the pending criminal proceedings on the basis of a compromise arrived at between the first informant-complainant and the appellants. The only question that, therefore, arises for consideration is whether the criminal proceedings in question could be quashed in the facts and circumstances of the case having regard to the settlement that the parties had arrived at. Respondent-Radhika filed an oral complaint in the Police Station at Nemom in the State of Kerala, stating that she had accompanied her husband to see a site which the latter had acquired at Punjakari. Upon arrival at the site, her husband and brother Rajesh went inside the plot while she waited for them near the car parked close by. Three youngsters at this stage appeared on a motorbike, one of whom snatched the purse and mobile phone from her hands while the other hit her on the cheek and hand. She raised an alarm that brought her husband and brother rushing to the car by which time the offenders escaped towards Karumam on a motorcycle. The complainant gave the registration number of the motorbike to the police and sought action against the appellants who were named by her in the statement made before the Additional Police Sub- Inspector attached to the Nemom Police Station. FIR No.6/2010 was, on the basis of that statement, registered in the police station and investigation started. A charge sheet was, in due course, filed against the appellants before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Neyyattinkara, eventually numbered CC 183/2010. During the pendency of the criminal proceedings aforementioned, the parties appear to have amicably settled the matter among themselves. Criminal M.C. No.3715 of 2010 under Section 482 Cr.P.C. was on that basis filed before the High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam for quashing of the complaint pending before the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Neyyattinkara. That prayer was made primarily on the premise that appellant No.1 Shiji @ Pappu who also owns a parcel of land adjacent to the property purchased by the respondent- Radhika, had some dispute in regard to the road leading to the two properties. An altercation had in that connection taken place between the appellants on the one hand and the husband and brother of the respondent on the other, culminating in the registration of the FIR mentioned above. The petition further stated that all disputes civil and criminal between the parties had been settled amicably and that the respondent had no grievance against the appellants in relation to the access to the plots in question and that the respondent had no objection to the criminal proceedings against the appellants being quashed by the High Court in exercise of its power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. The petition further stated that the disputes between the parties being personal in nature the same could be taken as settled and the proceedings put to an end relying upon the decision of this Court in Madan Mohan Abbot v. State of Punjab (2008) 4 SCC 582. An affidavit sworn by the respondent stating that the matter stood settled between the parties was also filed by the appellants before the High Court. The High Court has upon consideration declined the prayer made by the appellants holding that the offences committed by the appellants were not of a personal nature so as to justify quashing of the proceedings in exercise of its extra-ordinary jurisdiction under Section 482 Cr.P.C.
(3.) WE have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned order. Section 320 of the Cr.P.C. enlists offences that are compoundable with the permission of the Court before whom the prosecution is pending and those that can be compounded even without such permission. An offence punishable under Section 354 of the IPC is in terms of Section 320(2) of the Code compoundable at the instance of the woman against whom the offence is committed. To that extent, therefore, there is no difficulty in either quashing the proceedings or compounding the offence under Section 354, of which the appellants are accused, having regard to the fact that the alleged victim of the offence has settled the matter with the alleged assailants. An offence punishable under Section 394 IPC is not, however, compoundable with or without the permission of the Court concerned. The question is whether the High Court could and ought to have exercised its power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. for quashing the prosecution under the said provision in the light of the compromise that the parties have arrived at. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that the first informant-complainant had, in the affidavit filed before this Court, clearly admitted that the complaint in question was lodged by her on account of a misunderstanding and misconception about the facts and that the offences of which the appellants stand accused are purely personal in nature arising out of personal disputes between the parties. It was also evident that the complainant was no longer supporting the version on which the prosecution rested its case against the appellants. According to the learned counsel there was no question of the Trial Court recording a conviction against the appellants in the light of what the complainant had stated on affidavit. That was all the more so, when the other two prosecution witnesses were none other than the husband and the brother of the complainant who too were not supporting the charges against the appellants. Such being the case, continuance of criminal trial against the appellants was nothing but an abuse of the process of law and waste of valuable time of the Courts below. Exercise of power by the High Court under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to prevent such abuse is perfectly justified, contended the learned counsel. Reliance in support was placed by the learned counsel upon the decision of this Court in Madan Mohan Abbot's case (supra).;