JUDGMENT

K. Sreenivasa Reddy, J. - This Criminal Petition, under Section 482 Cr.P.C., has been filed by the petitioners/A-1 to A-3, seeking to quash the proceedings in Crime No.22 of 2023 of Tadepalligudem Town Police Station, West Godavari district, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 417, 376(2) (n), 313, 323, 506 read with 34 IPC and Sections 3(1)(r), 3(1)(s), 3(2)(v) and 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

2. It is represented that both the parties have settled the dispute amicably out of the Court at the intervention of their elders and well wishers. In view of the settlement arrived between both the parties, they filed I.A. Nos.2, 3 and 4 of 2023 seeking to permit them to compound the offences and to record the compromise and consequently to release the petitioner No.1/A-1 from jail.

3. Learned counsel for petitioners relied on a decision in Kapil Gupta v. State of NCT of Delhi & another (2022) 8 Supreme 341, wherein the Hon'ble Apex Court held thus:

'12. No doubt that the learned ASG is right in relying on various judgments of this Court which reiterate the legal position that in heinous and serious offences lik