Quashing the proceedings of a case which is of civil nature having criminal facets is not illegal, if the parties reach a compromise. The effected parties can reach to an agreement by mutual consent leaving no scope for conviction. This assertion was made by the honorable Punjab and Haryana High Court presided by J. Hari Pal Verma in the case of Sanjeev Nehra and others. vs. State of Haryana and another [CRM-M-577-2021].
The genesis of this case follows from the time when the parties were living separately on account of incompatibility and temperamental differences. There no child out of this wedlock and the wife filed an FIR under section 498-A, 406, 506, 323 IPC against her husband. The husband being the petitioner in here prayed before the court to quash the FIR and all the consequential proceedings arising therefrom on the basis of compromise affected between the parties.
In the instant case, the honorable Punjab and Haryana High Court held, “Since this is a case of matrimonial dispute and the parties have entered into a compromise with mutual consent, this petition is allowed and FIR under Sections 498-A, 406, 506, 323 IPC, registered at Palwal and all the consequential proceedings arising therefrom are hereby quashed qua the petitioners on the basis of compromise effected between the parties, subject to payment of costs of `10,000/- to be paid by the petitioners, within a period of two months from today with the Bar Association of this Court.”
The court referred to the principles laid down by the Full Bench judgment of the Court in Kulwinder Singh and others Versus State of Punjab and another 2007 (3) RCR (Criminal) 1052, in which it was held that even if the parties enter a compromise among themselves, it is the responsibility of the court to have due regard to the nature and gravity of the offences and then exercise such power of quashing an FIR.
The court further referred to the judgment passed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Gold Quest International Private Limited Versus State of Tamil Nadu and others-2014 (4) RCR (Criminal) 206. It was held that, “when the disputes are substantially matrimonial in nature, or are civil property disputes with criminal facets, if the parties enter into a settlement, and it becomes clear that there are no chances of conviction, there is no illegality in quashing the proceedings under Section 482 Cr.P.C. read with Article 226 of the Constitution of India.”
