High Court quashed FIR under Dowry Prohibition Act and IPC based on a genuine compromise reached between the petitioner and respondents to prevent abuse of process.
FIR No. 10 dated 13.1.2008 and all subsequent proceedings qua petitioners No. 1 and 2 are quashed.
This page shows the compact analysis of this judgement. The full analysis — procedural history, issue-by-issue holdings with ratio and obiter, advocates, and paragraph-level evidence for every claim — is being added to the record in batches and will appear here when this judgement has been through it.
Crl.Misc.No.M-10458 of 2009
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH
Crl. Misc. M No. 10458 of 2009 Date of Decision:May 18, 2009
Devinder Singh Dhariwal and others
...........Petitioners
Versus
State of Punjab and others
..........Respondents
Coram: Hon'ble Mrs. Justice Sabina
Present: Mr.G.S.Gill, Advocate for the petitioners. Mr.Amandeep Singh Rai,Assistant Advocate General, Punjab Ms.Manpreet Kaur Advocate for respondentd No.2 & 3
**
Sabina, J.
Petitioners have filed this petition under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking quashing of FIR No. 10 dated 13.1.2008 under Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act ,1961(the Act' for short) read with Sections 109,420 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC' for short) registered at Police Station Nathana, District Bathinda on the basis of compromise and all the subsequent proceedings arising therefrom.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that the petition qua petitioners No. 3 and 4 may be dismissed as withdrawn. Ordered accordingly.
Learned counsel for the petitioners has submitted that now parties with the intervention of relatives and friends have arrived at a compromise.
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Crl.Misc.No.M-10458 of 2009
Respondents No.2 and 3, who are present in person along with their counsel, have admitted the contents of their affidavits (Annexures P1 and P2) respectively, wherein they have stated that they have no objection, if the FIR in question is quashed qua petitioners No. 1 and 2.
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 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
Crl.Misc.No.M-10458 of 2009
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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, in order to live in peace, no useful purpose would be served by proceeding further with the criminal proceedings.
Accordingly, this petition is allowed. FIR No. 10 dated 13.1.2008 registered under Section 4 of the Act read with Sections 109,420 IPC at Police Station Nathana, District Bathinda qua petitioners No. 1 and 2 and all subsequent proceedings arising therefrom,are quashed .
( Sabina ) Judge
May 18, 2009
arya
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the High Court can quash criminal proceedings under Section 482 CrPC upon establishing a genuine compromise between the parties.
Whether the presence of civil dispute overtones affects the power to quash criminal proceedings in a dowry case.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
3 provisions across 3 enactments
Devinder Singh Dhariwal and others
State of Punjab
Sabina
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
