Crl. Misc. No. M-28864 of 2008 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Misc. No. M-28864 of 2008 Date of decision: 25.08.2009 Parkash Singh s/o Mattu Singh and another .....PETITIONERS VERSUS State of Punjab and another ..... RESPONDENTS CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH Present: Mr. D.D.Sharma, Advocate, for the petitioners. Mr. Amandeep Singh Rai, AAG, Punjab, for respondent No. 1. Mr. S.P.Garg, Advocate, for respondent No. 2-complainant. *** AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH, J. (ORAL) Prayer in the present petition is for quashing of the FIR No. 104 dated 19.03.2007 under Sections 406, 498-A IPC registered at Police Station Kharar, District SAS Nagar, Mohali (Annexure P-1) along with all consequential proceedings arising therefrom registered at the behest of respondent No. 2 Balwinder Kaur. Crl. Misc. No. M-28864 of 2008 2 Counsel for the petitioners contends that it is primarily a matrimonial dispute and the present petition has been filed by petitioner No. 1, namely Parkash Singh, who is father-in-law and petitioner No. 2, namely, Surjeet Kaur, who is mother-in-law of respondent No. 2- complainant. He contends that a compromise has been entered into between the parties and as per the said compromise, now the complainant- respondent No. 2 Balwinder Kaur is residing separately with her husband, namely, Avtar Singh. He further contends that in the light of the amicable settlement of the dispute which has primarily been a matrimonial dispute and the husband and wife amicably resolving the dispute and residing separately, the present petition deserves to be allowed and the FIR in question along with all consequential proceeding arising therefrom deserves to be quashed. Counsel for respondent No. 2 accepts the contention which has been raised by the counsel for the petitioners and further states that the complainant-respondent No. 2 has no objection if the FIR in question is quashed qua the petitioners. Smt. Balwinder Kaur is present in the Court, as has been identified by her counsel and also by ASI Gurbachan Singh, Police Station City Kharar. He states that she is now residing with her husband Avtar Singh and the matter having been resolved, she has no objection if the FIR, which was registered at her behest qua the petitioners, is quashed along with all consequential proceedings. Counsel for the petitioners has further brought to the notice of this Court that a petition being Crl. Misc. No. M-17962 of 2009 titled as Avtar Singh vs. State of Punjab and another, which was preferred by the husband of the complainant-respondent NO. 2, has been allowed by this Crl. Misc. No. M-28864 of 2008 3 Court today and the FIR in question stands already quashed qua the husband. This factual position is admitted by the counsel for the complainant-respondent No. 2. In view of the above and in view of the fact that the matrimonial dispute which has been amicably resolved between the parties, the present petition deserves to be allowed. A Larger Bench of this Court in the case of Kulwinder Singh & Ors. vs. State of Punjab & Anr. 2007 (3) RCR (Criminal) 1052, while discussing the scope of quashing of prosecution on the basis of compromise, in exercise of powers under Section 482 Cr.P.C., even in non-compoundable offence(s), has held as under:- “28. The compromise, in a modern society, is the sine qua non of harmony and orderly behaviour. It is the soul of justice and if the power under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. is used to enhance such a compromise which, in turn, enhances the social amity and reduces friction, then it truly is “finest hour of justice”. Disputes which have their genesis in a matrimonial discord, landlord-tenant matters, commercial transactions and other such matters can safely be dealt with by the Court by exercising its powers under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. in the event of a compromise, but this is not to say that the power is limited to such cases. There can never be any such rigid rule to prescribe the exercise of such power, especially in the absence of any premonitions to forecast and predict eventualities which the cause of justice may throw up during the course of a litigation. Crl. Misc. No. M-28864 of 2008 4 29. 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.” Therefore, in view of the discussion above, since the parties have amicably settled the matter, no useful purpose would be served if the proceedings are continued before the trial Court. Accordingly, the present petition is allowed. FIR No. 104 dated 19.03.2007 under Sections 406, 498-A IPC registered at Police Station Kharar, District SAS Nagar, Mohali (Annexure P-1) along with all consequential proceedings arising therefrom are hereby quashed. ( AUGUSTINE GEORGE MASIH ) JUDGE August 25, 2009 pj