ORDER :

The present Criminal Petition is filed under Section - 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short ‘Code’’) to quash the proceedings in Crime No.920 of 2020 of Cyber Crime Police Station, Hyderabad. The petitioner herein is sole accused in the said crime. The offences alleged against him are under Sections - 66C, D and 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and Section - 11 read with 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short ‘Act, 2012’).

2. I.A. No.2 of 2021 is filed by respondent No.2 - de facto complainant seeking to permit her to enter into compromise and to compound the offences against the accused by recording the compromise and quash the proceedings in the aforesaid crime against the accused.

3. Heard Mr. Mohd. Adnan, learned counsel for the petitioner - accused and Mr. Shaik Abdul Khader, learned counsel for respondent No.2 - de facto complainant, and also learned Assistant Public Prosecutor appearing on behalf of respondent No.1 - State.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner - accused would submit that the petitioner herein is nothing to do with the alleged offences and that the real culprits were common friends of petitioner and respondent No.2 who were caught and after they apologized, they pardoned them. Since the petitioner is no way concerned with the alleged offences, respondent No.2 has come forward to compromise the matter and accordingly entered into compromise for compounding the offences against the petitioner and also for quashing the aforesaid offences.

5. The learned counsel for respondent No.2 - de facto complainant has given consent for compounding the offences and for quashing the proceedings against the petitioner - accused.

6. The contents of the complaint dated 21.05.2020 lodged by respondent No.2 - de facto complainant would disclose that she is a student and regular user of internet and social networking sites, especially “Instagram” since 2018. She is receiving explicit messages from unknown users and even went to the extent of morphing her pictures with nude and obscene pictures downloaded from the internet. If such images reach to the public, her image would be damaged. Then she blocked all such users from her account, but each time she blocks such a user, she again start receiving obscene and sexual content from another user. Therefore, she approached the police and requested to punish those culprits in accordance with law. The police on receipt of the complaint from respondent No.2 herein, registered the aforesaid crime for the aforesaid offences and started investigation into the said aspects.

7. In view of the above, prima facie, there are specific allegations made against the petitioner herein which are serious in nature and impact on the society. More over, both the petitioner - accused and respondent No.2 are minors. So, offences against minors should be viewed seriously as it impacts on the society. In this regard, it is relevant to mention the parameters laid down by the Apex Court in the State of Madhya Pradesh v. Laxmi Narayan, 2019 (5) SCC 403 which are as under:

“i) that the power conferred under Section 482 of the Code to quash the criminal proceedings for the non-compoundable offences under Section 320 of the Code can be exercised having overwhelmingly and predominantly the civil character, particularly those arising out of commercial transactions or arising out of matrimonial relationship or family disputes and when the parties have resolved the entire dispute amongst themselves; ii) such power is not to be exercised in those prosecutions which involved heinous and serious offences of mental depravity or offences like murder, rape, dacoity, etc. Such offences are not private in nature and have a serious impact on society;

iii) x x x x;

iv) x x x x;

v) while exercising the power under Section 482 of the Code to quash the criminal proceedings in respect of non-compoundable offences, which are private in nature and do not have a se