The court affirmed the power to quash proceedings under Section 482 of the Code when offences are non-heinous and privately resolved, in line with established legal precedents.

O R D E R

This Criminal Miscellaneous Case is filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“the Code” for the sake of brevity).

2. Petitioner is the 6th accused in S.C. No.638/2021on the file of the Assistant Sessions Court, Karunagapally arising from Crime No.560/2019 of the Sasthamcotta Police Station, Kollam. The above case is chargesheeted against the petitioner and others alleging offences punishable under Sections 143 , 147, 148, 324, 308, 326 r/w Section 149 of the IPC .

3. The prosecution case is that on 23.03.2019 at about 10.00 pm due to an enmity towards the defacto complainat/3rd respondent, in connection with a festival of a temple last year, the accused 1 to 5 along with 14 others unlawfully assembled together in front of a temple ground and thereafter an identifiable 1st accused half covered his face with a cloth attacked with a sword, evaded from the incident and the hit on the chest causing injury, the 2nd accused attacked with a bamboo stick on the head and face causing injuries as well as lose of 2 teethes, the 3rd acused also assaulted on the face with a bamboo stick causing injury to the cheeks, and it is further alleged that accused 4 to 5 along with 14 others assaulted with stump causing pain.

4. It is submitted that the case against the 1st accused is already quashed as per Anx.3 order but the Public Prosecutor submitted that there is criminal antecedents to the petitioner. It is true that there is criminal antecedents to the petitioner. Since the case against the 1st accused is already quashed and the continuation of the proceedings agains the petitioner alone will be a judicial waste of time. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the parties have settled their dispute and do not wish to pursue the prosecution proceedings. The counsel relies on the affidavit filed by the victim in support of his contention. The counsel appearing for the victim also submitted that the matter is settled and the victim has no objection in quashing the prosecution.

5. The learned Public Prosecutor, on instructions, has expressed reservations about quashing the proceedings solely on the basis of the settlement. But the Public Prosecutor conceded that the matter is settled between the parties.

6. This Court has considered the submission of the petitioner, victim and the Public Prosecutor and has also gone through the records including the affidavit filed by the victim.

7. InState of Madhya Pradesh v. Laxmi Narayan and Others ( 2019 (5) SCC 688 ), three judge bench of the Hon'ble Supreme Court has summarized the situation in which non compoundable offences can be quashed invoking the powers under Section 482 of the Code. The apex court inLaxmi Narayan's case (supra) also relied on the law laid down inGian Singh v. State of Punjab and another ( 2012 (10) SCC 303 ) and Narinder Singh and others v. State of Punjab and another ( 2014 (6) SCC 466 ). The apex court in paragraph 13 of theLaxmi Narayan's case discussed the law in detail and the same is extracted hereunder:

“13. Considering the law on the point and the other decisions of this Court on the point, referred to herein above, it is observed and held as under: i) that the power conferred under S.482 of the Code to quash the criminal proceedings for the non - compoundable offences under S.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) similarly, such power is not to be exercised for the offences under the special statutes like Prevention of Corruption Act or t