IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Misc. No. M- 9166 of 2011 Date of decision: 05.12.2011 Navpreet Singh and others ...Petitioners Versus The State of Punjab and another ...Respondents CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RANJIT SINGH Present: Mr. Ashish Aggarwal, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr. Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala, DAG, Punjab for the State. Mr. M.S. Bedi, Advocate for respondent No. 2. **** RANJIT SINGH J. The petitioners are accused for offence under Section 382 (for which challan has been presented) read with Section 34 IPC, which is registered against them at Police Station Sadar, District Hoshiarpur. As per the allegations, the petitioners had stopped their motorcycle in front of motorcycle driven by Head Constable/complainant and when he dogged, the petitioners followed him on bullet motorcycle and blocked his way. They allegedly snatched Nokia 6600 mobile from the bag of the complainant and forcibly snatched his motorcycle as well. The petitioners, however, were nabbed. The petitioners now have approached this Court for quashing of this FIR on the basis of compromise. Copy of the compromise is annexed with the petition as Annexure P-2. Criminal Misc. No. M- 9166 of 2011 -2- When this case came up for hearing before this Court on 28.11.2011, State counsel prayed for time to ascertain antecedents of the petitioners as it was a case of robbery. The petitioners otherwise, on direction issued by this Court have appeared before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hoshiarpur, alongwith the complainant to record their statement. The Court has recorded the statements and has forwarded the report stating that this compromise is voluntary and appears to be genuine one. State counsel, today, has pointed out that petitioners No. 1 and 2 are also involved in FIR No. 205 dated 19.05.2005 under Sections 447, 506, 148 and 149 IPC registered at Police Station Sadar, Hoshiarpur. The petitioners involved, in this case, have since been acquitted, as disclosed by the counsel for the petitioners, who is having a copy of the order in this regard with him. Petitioner No. 3 is statedly involved in FIR dated 07.09.2006 registered under the NDPS Act. The said petitioner has been convicted for the offence and sentenced to undergo one month imprisonment coupled with fine of ` 500/-. Petitioner No. 4 was also involved FIR No. 161 dated 22.04.2008 under Sections 452, 326, 324, 323, 148 and 149 IPC, Police Station Sadar, Hoshiarpur. The FIR has been quashed on the basis of compromise by this Court on 01.12.2011. This fact is stated by the counsel for the petitioners. Ordinarily the person, who has tendency to get involved in a criminal cases should not be heard for quashing of the FIR even on the basis of compromise. After all to permit compounding of offence as serious as theft or dacoity etc. has to be as per the discretion of Criminal Misc. No. M- 9166 of 2011 -3- the Court, which may or may not permit such compounding. Counsel for the petitioners submits that the petitioners are young boys and have apparently gone astray. Effort should be made to bring them back to the normal stream so that they can become good citizens and good human being. If they are put to trial and punished then the consequences and the effect will be that they may further drift in their life and may one day become a hard core criminal. Efforts should be made to bring back this youth to mainstream and to make them mend their lives. Apparently, the petitioner being young may appears to carry tendency to get involved in some uncalled criminal activities. They need to be tackled with care and caution. Any harsh treatment to them, at this stage, may spoil their lives for good and may lead to their going astray. Counsel for the petitioners also submits that now the petitioners have realized their mistake and they wish to settle in life for which they need support. The complaint, in this present case, is by a police constable who has also agreed to forgive and forget and has entered into compromise with the petitioners. The complainant is present in person before the Court and states that he has indeed compromised with the petitioners. The petitioners, thus, need support to make fresh beginning to settle in life. Any harsh treatment may make them lose their way in life. Accordingly, I deem it appropriate to quash the proceedings and the FIR on the basis of compromise. The FIR No. 170 dated 02.07.2007 registered at Police Station Sadar, District Hoshiarpur and all subsequent proceedings are hereby quashed. This shall subject to one condition that in case the Criminal Misc. No. M- 9166 of 2011 -4- petitioners commit any offence in future, the prosecution would be at liberty to seek reopening of this case, which has been closed or quashed on the basis of compromise. December 05, 2011 ( RANJIT SINGH ) rts JUDGE