Crl. Misc. No. M-20720 of 2011 -1 - IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Crl. Misc. No. M-20720 of 2011 Date of Decision: 26.8.2011. Dr. Jasminder Kaur and others ........Petitioners Vs. State of Punjab and another ......Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr. Vivek Goyal, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Vishal Munjal, Addl. A.G. Punjab for respondent No.1. Respondent No.2 in person along with her counsel Mr. Surinder Sharma, Advocate ..... SABINA, J. Petitioners have filed this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for quashing of the FIR No. 18 dated 13.02.2008 (Annexure P-1), under Sections 406, 498-A of the Indian Penal Code ('IPC' for short), registered at Police Station Bhogpur, District Jallandhar and all subsequent proceedings, arising therefrom, on the basis of compromise. Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that with the intervention of the relatives and friends, the parties have arrived at a compromise. As per the compromise, the petitioner No.6 will pay ` 10,00,000/- to respondent No.2 towards lumpsum maintenance to her and for the minor child. Out of the said amount, ` 1,00,000/- have already been paid to Crl. Misc. No. M-20720 of 2011 -2 - respondent No.2 by petitioner No.6. Learned counsel for the petitioners has further submitted that petitioner No.6 will come from Mumbai within one month and will file a joint petition with respondent No.2 under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 seeking divorce on the basis of mutual consent. The petitioners will remain bound by the condition 'h', mentioned in the compromise (Annexure P-2) Respondent No.2, who is present in person along with her counsel, has tendered her reply by way of affidavit wherein she has prayed that the petition be allowed on the basis of compromise. 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 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 Crl. Misc. No. M-20720 of 2011 -3 - 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.” Since the parties have arrived at a compromise and have decided to live in peace, no useful purpose would be served in allowing the criminal proceedings to continue. Accordingly, the present petition is allowed. FIR No. 18 dated 13.02.2008 (Annexure P-1), under Sections 406, 498-A IPC, registered at Police Station Bhogpur, District Crl. Misc. No. M-20720 of 2011 -4 - Jallandhar and all the subsequent proceedings, arising therefrom, are quashed. (SABINA) JUDGE August 26, 2011 Gurpreet