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26. Now, we come to the submission, which has been much pressed by learned counsel for the appellant, i.e., composition of offence under Section 324 IPC. Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, provides for compounding of offence. Sub-Section (1) of Section 320 contains a table which may be compounded by persons mentioned in third column of the table whereas sub-section (2) of Section 320 provides: -

“320(2). The offences punishable under the sections of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) specified in the first two columns of the table next following may, with the permission of Court before which any prosecution for such offence is pending, be compounded by the persons mentioned in the third column of that table.”

27. Sub-Section (5) of Section 320 provides as follows: -

33. We may refer to a Division Bench Judgment of Nagpur High Court reported in Provincial Government, Central Provinces and Berar vs. Bipin Singh Choudhary, AIR (1945) Nagpur, Oudh, Peshawar & Sind 104, where the Division Bench consisted of Justice Vivian Bose(as he then was), had occasion to consider the provisions of Section 345 Criminal Procedure Code, 1898, which are pari materia provision to Section 320 Cr.P.C. In the above case, the Government had filed an appeal where sanction was accorded under Section 345(2) Cr.P.C. to the compounding of offence of cheating. The respondent accused in that case was found guilty of cheating. He had cheated a litigant. The accused was clerk in the High Court. He induced the complainant to pay him a sum of Rs. 2,000/- stating that accused would hand it over to one of the Judges in charge of the complainant’s case as a bribe. Learned Magistrate has accorded sanction stating that complainant and accused were friends and it would be pity to disturb their friendly relations with which public at large are not concerned and in which they are not interested.

38. The observations as quoted above are fully attracted in the facts of the present case. We, thus, are of the considered opinion that present is a case where this Court is not to grant leave for compounding the offences under Section 324 IPC as prayed by the counsel for the appellants. The present is a case where the accused who were police officers, one of them being in-charge of Station and other Senior Inspector have themselves brutally beaten the deceased, who died the same night. Their offences cannot be compounded by the Court in exercise of Section 320(2) read with sub- section (5). We, thus, reject the prayer of the appellants to compound the offence.