Telangana High Court Quashes 'Attempt To Murder' Charge; Says Husband-Wife Settled Dispute, No Serious Allegation To Attract Offence

The Telangana High Court has quashed criminal proceedings initiated under section 307 IPC (attempt to murder) based on a compromise decree.

It held that when an offense arises out of a domestic dispute and is resolved, the Court may quash the FIR based on a compromise entered into between the parties.

The order was passed by Justice K Sujana in a criminal petition seeking the quash the proceedings initiated against the accused under section 307 of the IPC for allegations of attempt to murder.

The petitioner contended that although the charge under Section 307 was not compoundable, the Court is duty-bound to examine whether the ingredients for an offense under Section 307 were proven.

The counsel for the petitioner relied on case laws and contended that when the dispute is strictly domestic and the parties have resolved their differences, the Court may even quash proceedings initiated under S.307 of IPC.

The Counsel for the State on the other hand contended that since the offence under Section 307 was not compoundable, it needed to be tried.

Conceding with the view taken by the petitioners and observing that the dispute was purely domestic between a husband and wife, the Court quashed the F.I.R. It held:

“In the present case, the dispute is in between the wife and husband and there are no serious allegations to attract Section 307 of IPC. Both the parties have amicably settled the disputes between themselves. Consequently, this Criminal Petition is allowed, and the proceedings in F.I.R. No.144 of 2023 on the file of the Warangal Women Police Station. Warangal against the petitioners/A1 to A4 are hereby quashed…”

However, owing to the seriousness of the allegations the Bench has directed the petitioner to deposit an amount of Rs 5000/- to the Director, Sainik Welfare, Hyderabad, and Rs 5000/- to the Telangana High Court Advocates Association.

Crlp 9947 of 2023

Counsel for petitioner: K. Rajashekar

Counsel for respondent: Phanindra Bhargav

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