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Showing contexts for: section 320 in Kulwinder Singh And Ors. vs State Of Punjab And Anr. on 8 August, 2007Matching Fragments
8. The scope of these two sets of powers enjoyed upon by the High Court may shrink or expand depending upon pre/post conviction eventualities, especially if in pre-conviction case(s), the High Court, as a matter of fact, is satisfied that continuation of criminal proceedings would be an exercise in futility; their fate-accompli is known; and further pendency thereof would be an undesirable burden on the trial Courts, who are already struggling hard to manage their unmanageable dockets.
9. In addition, the question as to whether Section 320(9) Cr.P.C. which prohibits "compounding" of the offences not falling within the ambit of Sub-sections (1) and (2) of Section 320 of the Code, can barge into the constitutional powers conferred upon a High Court under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution, also deserves to be dealt with elaborately. In this regard, the conclusions drawn in paras 12 and 14 of the judgment rendered by the Full Bench of this Court (majority view) in the case of Dharambir v. State of Haryana 2005(3) RCR (Crl.) 426, also needs to be reconciled. From para 12 of the report in Dharambir's case (supra), the majority view to the effect that "for preventing the abuse of process of law and advancing the ends of justice" and/ or " in the interest of justice", the High Court in exercise of its powers under Section 482 of the Code or under Article 226 of the Constitution can quash the criminal proceedings, is quite discernible. However, the aforesaid conclusion is apparently in conflict with the majority's later conclusion drawn in para 14 of the report where it has been held that there is neither any provisions of law nor does the Constitution of India confer any power in the High Court to either quash the prosecution or allow the compounding of the offences, which are not declared compoundable by the Legislature or that the only exception which can be carved out, pertains to offences arising out of marital disputes.
It is in these circumstances that while exercising its powers under Section 482 of the Code, the Court has in given cases quashed the criminal proceedings where it felt that the same was required to prevent the abuse of the process of any Court or to otherwise secure the ends of justice. These decisions would necessarily involve an appraisal of the facts and circumstances of each case and this Court cannot while interpreting the statutory provisions take upon itself the onerous responsibility of extending the powers of compounding of offences to cases other than those listed in Section 320(1) and (2) of the Code. While it is true that it should be the endeavour of every one to bring into operation the conciliation process with a view to pursue consensual justice, yet for achieving this object the scope of Section 320 of the Code will have to be enlarged. Such an enlargement though desirable being in the domain of legislative enactment would fall out of the purview of statutory interpretation at the level of the High Court. This Court in this case does not have any material available before it to assess the utility of widening the scope of compromise in the criminal justice system as the possibility of the same being misused by the persons having at their command greater money and muscle power cannot be ruled out. It is because of this that we feel obliged not to extend in general terms the ambit of interest of justice as indiscriminate and uncontrolled reliance thereon may end in the abuse of the process of law which is one of the goals, which the enactor of Section 482 of the Code, seek to achieve. The balance in each case will have to be struck to ensure that complete justice is done between the parties and for achieving this, each individual case will have to be scrutinized to find out whether it attracts any of the provisions incorporated in Section 482 of the Code to impel the Court to grant relief to a party either in the exercise of the aforesaid power or under Article 226 of the Constitution. Therefore, we would not like to launch an exercise for determining the scope of judicial intervention as provided under Section 482 of the Code in view of the terms "abuse of the process of law" and "in the interest of justice", as it would not be proper for us to provide a straightjacket formula for channelizing judicial responses to the facts and the circumstances of a given case. It would be more appropriate that the interpretation of these terms is left open to the response of an Hon'ble Judge to the facts and circumstances of a given case, as and when this Court is called upon to intervene in any matter for preventing the abuse of the process of law and advancing the ends of justice.
18. In B.S. Joshi's case (supra), the Apex Court clearly enunciated the principle that an F.I.R. can be quashed even where the offence was non- compoundable in cases where the parties have arrived at a compromise and settled all their disputes notwithstanding the bar under Section 320 of the Cr.P.C.
19. Section 320 of the Cr.P.C. provides a table of offences punishable under the Indian Penal Code which may be compounded. It also details the table of the offences under the Indian Penal Code which canbe compounded with the permission of the Court. Sub-Section (9) of Section 320, which is relevant, is reproduced below:
38. No embargo, be in the shape of Section 320(9) of the Cr.P.C., or any other such curtailment, can whittle down the power under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C.
39. The compromise, in a modern society, is the sine qua non of harmony and orderly behaviour. It is the soul of justice and if the power under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. is used to enhance such a compromise which, in turn, enhances the social amity and reduces friction, then it truly is "finest hour of justice". Disputes which have their genesis in a matrimonial discord, landlord-tenant matters, commercial transactions and other such matters can safely be dealt with by the Court by exercising its powers under Section 482 of the Cr.P.C. in the event of a compromise, but this is not to say that the power is limited to such cases. There can never be any such rigid rule to prescribe the exercise of such power, especially in the absence of any premonitions to forecast and predict eventualities which the cause of justice may throw up during the course of a litigation.