The above Criminal Miscellaneous Case (Crl.M.C.) seeking the invocation of the inherent powers conferred on this Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure has been filed with the prayer to quash the impugned criminal proceedings in L.P No.37 of 2012 (arising out of the impugned Annexure A1 final report/charge sheet in Crime No.299 of 2008 of Thiruvalla Police Station) now pending on the file of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Thiruvalla and all proceedings arising therefrom. The 1st respondent herein is the de facto complainant in this case and she is the mother of the petitioner. 2. The prosecution case is that the petitioner had pushed down his mother and had beaten her with hands and inflicted injuries with a chopper on 13.04.2008 at about 11 p.m, in the house of de facto complainant. That the petitioner destroyed the furnitures and caused damage to the tune of Rs.2,000/- and thus committed the above said offences. On the basis of these allegations, Crime No.299 of 2008 of Thiruvalla Police Station was registered arraying the petitioner herein as accused for offences punishable under Sections 341, 323, 324 and 427 of Indian Penal Code. The police after investigation submitted the impugned Annexure A1 final report/charge sheet and the case is now pending as L.P No.37 of 2012 on the file of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Thiruvalla. It is stated that the petitioner is working in Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram and he used to visit the family house in Thiruvalla in every week and as he used to come very often late in the night, this caused friction in the family and caused serious differences of opinion between him and his mother, who is the de facto complainant. It is stated that now the matter has been amicably settled out of court and the 1st respondent de facto complainant now does not want to prosecute and punish the petitioner. The 1st respondent has entered appearance through counsel and has filed affidavit dated 06.10.2014 before this Court in this Crl.M.C wherein it is stated that the dispute that arose out of the impugned criminal proceedings between the petitioner and the 1st respondent has been amicably and peacefully settled and that she is not interested in prosecuting and punishing the petitioner, who is her son. That she is a widow and the petitioner is the only person to take care and maintain her at her old age and that if petitioner is punished there is nobody to look after her and as the matter is amicably settled she is not interested to pursue the impugned criminal proceedings. It is in the background of these facts and circumstances that the aforementioned Crl.M.C has been filed.
3. The Crl.M.C. has been admitted and Sri.K.N.Aneesh has taken notice for the 1st respondent and the learned Public Prosecutor has taken notice for the 2nd respondent-State of Kerala.
4. Heard Sri.K.Jayaraj, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Sri.K.M.Aneesh, learned counsel appearing for 1st respondent and the learned Public Prosecutor appearing for the 2nd respondent-State of Kearla.
5. The learned counsel for the petitioner has submitted that during the pendency of the aforementioned criminal proceedings, the matter has been settled amicably between the parties, which is resulted in the subject matter of the aforementioned crime/case and that the continuation of the proceedings in the above case/crime will cause miscarriage of justice to both parties as the real disputants to the case have arrived at an amicable settlement and any further continuation of the criminal proceedings will amount to sheer wastage of time and money and would unnecessarily strain the financial, administrative and financial resources of the State.
6. Sri.K.M.Aneesh, the learned counsel appearing for the 1st respondent has submitted on the basis of the specific instructions furnished by the 1st respondent that the 1st respondent has amicably settled the disputes with the petitioner and that she has no objection in the quashment of the impugned criminal proceedings and that the complainant/victim/injured does not intend to proceed any further against the petitioner as she has no grievance against him and that she will not raise any dispute/compliant in future if the prayer for quashing the impugned final report is allowed.
7. The learned Public Prosecutor also was heard, who also has not raised any serious objections and submitted that this court may consider the prayer in this case in the light of the law well settled by the Apex Court in that regard.
8. After having carefully considered the submissions of the parties and after having perused the pleadings as well as the documents and materials placed in this matter, it can be seen that the offences alleged are more or less personal in nature and not much element of public interest is involved. The crucial aspect of the matter is that though such offences are involved, the real disputants to the controversy which has led to the impugned criminal proceedings, have actually arrived at an amicable settlement of the matter. From the submissions made by the learned counsel for the 1st respondent, it is clear to the court that the injured/victim/defacto complainant has no further grievance against the petitioner/accused in the light of the settlement arrived at by them. In this connection, it is relevant to note the decision of the Apex Court in the case between Gian Singh v. State of Punjab reported in 2013 (1) SCC (Cri) 160, para 61 = (2012) 10 SCC 303 = 2012(4) KLT 108(SC), wherein the Supreme Court has held as follows in para 61 thereof [ See SCC (Cri)]:
“61. The position that emerges from the above discussion can be summarised thus: the power of the High Court in quashing a criminal proceeding or FIR or complaint in exercise of its inherent jurisdiction is distinct and different from the power given to a criminal court for compounding the offences under S.320 of the Code. Inherent power is of wide plenitude with no statutory limitation but it has to be exercised in accord with the guideline engrafted in such power viz;(i) to secure the ends of justice or (ii) to prevent abuse of the process of any Court. In what cases power to quash the criminal proceeding or complaint or F.I.R. may be exercised where the offender and victim have settled their dispute would depend on the facts and circumstances of each case and no category can be prescribed..
It is further held as follows:-
“......... But the criminal cases having overwhelmingly and pre-dominatingly civil flavour stand on different footing for the purposes of quashing, particularly the offences arising from commercial, financial,mercantile, civil, partnership or such like transactions or the offences arising out of matrimony relating to dowry etc. or the family disputes where the wrong is basically private or personal in nature and the parties have resolved their entire dispute. In this category of cases, High Court may quash criminal proceedings if in its view, because of the compromise between the offender and victim, the possibility of conviction is remote and bleak and continuation of criminal case would put accused to great oppression and prejudice and extreme injustice would be caused to him by not quashing the criminal case despite full and complete settlement and compromise with the victim. ”
In the decision reported in the case Yogendra Yadav & others v. The State of Jharkhand & another reported in 2014 (8) Scale 634 = III (2014) Current Criminal Reports CCR 426 (SC), the Apex Court has held as follows:
“When the High Court is convinced that the offences are entirely personal in nature and, therefore, do not affect public peace or tranquility and where it feels that quashing of such proceedings on account of compromise would bring about peace and would secure ends of justice, it should not hesitate to quash them”.
The Apex Court in the above case was dealing with a case involving offences under Sections 341, 323, 324, 504 & 307 r/w Section 34 Indian Penal Code.
9. Considering the facts and circumstances of this case, it is seen further that the impugned criminal proceedings have arisen consequent to the personal disputes between the disputants and the disputes have been settled amicably between the parties. Accordingly, this Court is inclined to hold that in the light of the facts and circumstances involved in the present case and particularly in view of the settlement arrived at between the parties, the principles laid down in the aforementioned decisions of the Apex Court will be squarely applicable in the present case. Moreover, since the real disputants to the controversy have amicably settled the disputes, which led to these impugned criminal proceedings, it is also the duty of the court to promote such settlement, instead of compelling the parties to go on with the dispute. It is also pertinent to note that since the matter is settled out of court, in the event of proceeding with the trial, there may not be any fruitful prosecution and the chances of conviction of the accused is rather negligible and therefore, the net result of continuance of criminal proceedings would be sheer waste of judicial time rather meaningless and therefore would amount to abuse of the process of court proceedings in the larger sense. Hence following decisions of the Apex Court cited supra, this Court is inclined to hold that the Crl.M.C. can be allowed by granting the prayers sought for.
In the result, the Crl.M.C. is allowed and the impugned Annexure A1 final report/charge sheet in the impugned Crime No.299 of 2008 of Thiruvalla Police Station which has led to the pendency of L.P No.37 of 2012 on the file of Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Thiruvalla and all further proceedings arising therefrom stand quashed. The petitioner shall produce certified copies of this order before the court below concerned as well as before the Station House Officer, Thiruvalla Police Station.
Sd/-
ALEXANDER THOMAS, JUDGE.
vdv //True Copy// P.A to Judge