SC/ST Act Case Can Be Compounded Directly In An Appeal U/S 14-A; Recourse To S. 482 CrPC Not Needed : Allahabad High Court

A bench of Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav added that there is no need to take separate recourse to the inherent powers of the High Court under Section 482 CrPC to effectuate a compromise when the statutory remedy of an appeal is available.

To hold thus, Justice Yadav relied on the the Full Bench judgment of the Allahabad High Court in Ghulam Rasool Khan And Others vs State Of U.P And Another (2022) 8 ADJ 691.

It may be noted that usually, quashing of criminal proceedings on the basis of a compromise is sought by invoking the inherent powers of the High Court under Section 482 CrPC. 

However, the Full Bench in Ghulam Rasool had specifically addressed whether Section 482 could be invoked when a remedy under Section 14-A (appellate mechanism) of the 1989 Act existed. Answering Question No. III in the negative, the Full Bench had held:

"…the aggrieved person having remedy of appeal under Section 14A of the 1989 Act, cannot be allowed to invoke inherent jurisdiction of this Court under Section 482 CrPC".

Further clarifying the extent of this exclusion in Paragraph 94, the Full Bench had ruled that while the constitutional and inherent powers of this Court are not 'ousted' by Section 14A, they cannot be invoked in cases and situations where an appeal would lie under Section 14A.

Interpreting this judgment, Justice Yadav observed thus:

"A perusal of the full Bench judgment in Ghulam Rasool Khan And Others vs State Of U.P And Another 2022 (8) ADJ 691 reveals that a matter under the SC/ST Act may be compounded in a criminal appeal under section 14-A(1) of SC/ST Act and there is no need to take recourse of U/s. 482 Cr.P.C. for the same".

For context, the single judge was dealing with a Criminal Appeal pertaining to an SC-ST Act. The case involved allegations under Sections 147, 323, 500, 504, and 506 of the IPC read with Section 3(2)(va) of the SC/ST Act.

The appellants had approached the High Court seeking to quash a charge sheet and summoning order passed by the Special Judge, SC/ST Act, Meerut.

During the hearing, it was submitted that the dispute was purely private in nature and that the parties had entered into a compromise without any coercion or undue influence. It was further informed that, in compliance with a previous court order, the compromise had already been verified by the trial court.

Applying the ratio of Ghulam Rasool case, the single judge said that the appeal itself was the proper forum for compounding and noting that the offence was not committed on account of the victim's caste, therefore, continuing proceedings would be an abuse of the process of law.

Consequently, Justice Yadav allowed the Criminal Appeal and quashed the entire proceedings, including the summoning order and charge sheet.

However, the Court directed the complainant (Opposite Party No. 2) to return the compensation amount to the concerned authority within one week.