In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh Crl. Misc. No. M-14799 of 2008 Date of Decision:February 20, 2009 Satinder Singh @ Tinku ---Petitioner versus State of Punjab and others ---Respondents Coram: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA *** Present: Mr.J.S.Dadwal,Advocate, for the petitioner Mr. Aman Deep Singh Rai, AAG, Punjab Mr.Rajesh Bansal, Advocate, for respondents No. 2 and 3 *** SABINA, J. Satinder Singh-petitioner has filed this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as 'Cr.P.C.')for quashing of FIR No. 21 dated 31.3.2008 (Annexure P-1) under Sections 363/366/376 of the Indian Penal Code registered at Police Station, Division No. 2, Ludhiana on the basis of compromise. Learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that parties have arrived at a compromise. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on judgments of this Court reported as Surinder Kamboj and others vs. State of Punjab and another 2008(1)RCR(Criminal 21 and Talwinder Singh @ Laddi and another vs. State of Punjab and another 2008(3) RCR (Criminal) 970. Crl. Misc. No. M-14799 of 2008 -2- Respondents No. 2 and 3 are also present in the Court along with their counsel and have admitted the contents of affidavits/statements (annexure P-2 and P-3). They have stated that they have no objection if the FIR, in question, is quashed. 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. Hon'ble the Apex Court in the case of Nikhil Merchant vs. Central bureau of Investigation and another JT 2008 (9) SC 192 in paras 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 Crl. Misc. No. M-14799 of 2008 -3- compromise arrived at, should at all be exercised? 25.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.” In the present case, perusal of affidavits annexure P-2 and P-3 reveals that prosecutrix had gone away with the petitioner with the intention to marry him whereas the complainant suspected that she had been falsely/forcibly taken by the petitioner. Normally in case of the present kind, courts may be reluctant to quash the FIR but in the present case the facts are different. The prosecutrix as well as the petitioner are young. Since the parties have arrived at a compromise, no useful purpose would be served by continuing the criminal proceedings, in question. Accordingly, the present petition is allowed. FIR No. 21 dated 31.3.2008 (Annexure P-1) under Sections 363/366/376 of the Indian Crl. Misc. No. M-14799 of 2008 -4- Penal Code registered at Police Station, Division No. 2, Ludhiana and all subsequent proceedings arising therefrom are quashed. (SABINA) JUDGE February 20, 2009 PARAMJIT