SABINA,J. - (1.) PETITIONERS have filed this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for quashing of the FIR No. 79 dated 30.9.2010, under Section 406, 420, 468, 120-B of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short), registered at Police Station Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar (Nawanshahr) (Annexure P-1) and all the consequential proceedings arising therefrom in view of the compromise dated 18.12.2010 (Annexure P-2) arrived at between the parties.
(2.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioners as well as respondent No.2 have submitted that the parties have amicably settled their dispute. Vide order dated 9.2.2011, parties were directed to appear before the trial Court and the trial court was directed to record the statements of the parties and submit its report qua the genuineness of the compromise. In pursuance to the said order, the trial Court has submitted its report that the compromise effected between the parties was genuine. Learned counsel for respondent No.2 has submitted that now entire payment in question has been received by respondent No.2 and, hence, FIR in question be quashed in view of the compromise effected between the parties. As per the Full Bench judgment of this Court in Kulwinder Singh and others vs. State of Punjab, 2007 (3) RCR (Criminal) 1052, High Court has power under Section 482 Cr.P.C. to allow the compounding of non-compoundable offence and quash the prosecution where the High Court felt that the same was required to prevent the abuse of the process of any Court or to otherwise secure the ends of justice. This power of quashing is not confined to matrimonial disputes alone.
(3.) HON 'ble the Apex Court in the case of Merchant vs. Central Bureau of Investigation and another JT 2008 (9) SC 192 in para Nos. 23 and 24 has held as under:- "23. In the instant case, the disputes between the Company and the Bank have been set at rest on the basis of the compromise arrived at by them whereunder the dues of the Bank have been cleared and the Bank does not appear to have any further claim against the Company. What, however, remains is the fact that certain documents were alleged to have been created by the appellant herein in order to avail of credit facilities beyond the limit to which the Company was entitled. The dispute involved herein has overtones of a civil dispute with certain criminal facets. The question which is required to be answered in this case is whether the power which independently lies with this court to quash the criminal proceedings pursuant to the compromise arrived at, should at all be exercised? 24.On an overall view of the facts as indicated hereinabove and keeping in mind the decision of this Court in B.S.Joshi's case (supra) and the compromise arrived at between the Company and the Bank as also clause 11 of the consent terms filed in the suit filled by the Bank, we are satisfied that this is a fit case where technicality should not be allowed to stand in the way in the quashing of the criminal proceedings, since, in our view, the continuance of the same after the compromise arrived at between the parties would be a futile exercise." ;