HIGH COURT OF'CHHATTISGARHAT BILASPUR Criminal Misc. Petition No.366 of 2009 . raveen Narware, S/o Shri Ram Kumar Narware, aged about 31 years, Shri Ram Kumar Nam/are, S/o Gulab Sing Naxware, aged about 65 years. Smt, Meena Devi Natware, wife of Shri R.K. Narware, aged about 60 years. All residents of MIG—59, Housing Board Colony, Tatibandh, Police Station Amanaka, Raipur (C.G.) Versus . RESPONDENTS: State of Chhattisgarh, Through City Kotwali, City and Distt. Bilaspur (C.G.) Shikha Nan/vare, W/o Praveen Narware, aged about 23 years, R/o Subhash Nagar, Gondpara, Distt. Bilaspur (C.G.) Aication under Section 482 ofthe Code of Criminal Procedure‘ 1973) (SB: Hon’ble Mr. T.P. Sharma, J) Present: Mr. Bhaskar Payashi, counsel for the petitioners. Mr. Sushil Dubey, Govt. Advocate for the State/respondent No.1. Mrs. Nisha ChaturVedi, counsel for respondent No.2. All the petitioners and respondent No.2 are present in person. ORAL ORDER (22—7—2009) 1. The petitioners have filed this petition for quashing the First lnformation Report and further proceedings pending before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bilaspur in Criminal Case No.1 170/2009 for offence punishable under Sections 498A read with Section 34 ofthe l.P.C., 3 & 4 ofthe Dowry Prohibition Act. . Le§rned counsel for the petitioners placing reliance upon the judgment of the Apex Court in the matter of B.S. Joshi and others v. State of Haryana and another {(2003) 4 SCC 675} submits that though in accordance with the provisions of Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure the offence under Section 498A of the l.P.C. are non-compoundable in nature yet the criminal proceedings initiated for the offence punishable under this section can be quashed by exercising jurisdiction under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. Relevant portion of the said judgment is extracted below:- “14. There is no doubt that the object of introducing Chapter XX-A containing Section 498-A in the lndian Penal Code was to prevent tortUre to a woman by her husband or by relatives of her hUSband. Section 498-A was added with a @ 1 P APPLICANTS: 1 (ppi view to punishing a husband and his relatives who harass or torture the wife to coerce her or her relative to satisfy unlawful demands of dowry. The hyper technical view would be counterproductive and would act against interests of women and against the object for which this provision was added. There is every likelihood that non—exercise ”of inherent power to quash the proceedings to meet the ends of justice would prevent women from settling earlier. That is not the object of Chapter XX-A of the Indian Penal Code. 15. ln view of the above discussion, we hold that the High Court in exercise of its inherent powers can quash criminal proceedings or FIR or complaint and Section 320 of the Code does not limit or affect the powers under Section 482 of the Code." . Thus according to the above cited decision of the Apex Court it is the duty of the Court to encourage genuine settlements of matrimonial disputes and the provisions of Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure do not limit or affect the powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. . In the instant case, petitioner No.1 & respondent No.2 are husband & wife, they have decided to end their marital relations and they have also filed a petition ' for divorce. Now there is no chance of amicable settlement between petitioner No.1 & respondent No.2 for living together and parties have filed a joint application for permission to compound the offence categorically stating therein that the disputes and grievances between them have been settled without any pressure and fear. . In view of the aforementioned pronouncement of the Apex Court and the fact that petitioner No.1 & respondent No.2 have settled their disputes amicably without pressure or fear, it would be in the interest of justice to allow the petition and quash criminal proceedings pending before Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bilaspur. Consequently, the petition is allowed and the criminal proceedings pending in he Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bilaspur, in Criminal Case No.1 170/2009 are hereby quashed. l.A.No.1 thus stands disposed of. T.P. SHARMA Judge Sd/~ 4 . t