COMPOUNDING OF OFFENCE U/S 324 IPC: 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: –
“320(5). When the accused has been committed for trial or when he has been convicted and an appeal is pending, no composition for the offence shall be allowed without the leave of the Court to which he is committed, or, as the case may be, before which the appeal is to be heard.”
28. The present is a case where accused has already been convicted for offence under Section 324 IPC. By Cr.P.C. (Amendment) Act, 2005, offence under Section 324 IPC has been made non-compoundable offence. Prior to the aforesaid amendment, offence under Section 324 was compoundable. Learned counsel for the appellants is right in his submissions that on the date when offence was committed, i.e., 04/05.05.1985, the offence under Section 324 IPC was compoundable. We, thus, need to examine as to whether in the present case, the request of the appellants to which learned counsel appearing for the legal representative of the deceased have also agreed need to be accepted and this Court may permit compounding of offence under Section 324 IPC.
29. The offence under Section 324 in the facts of the present case can be compounded only with permission of the Court. Sub-Section (5) of Section 320 provides that “no composition for the offence shall be allowed without the leave of the Court.” Thus, the composition of the offence in the facts of the present case is not permissible only on the agreement on the request of the appellant which may be also accepted by the legal heirs of the deceased but composition is permissible only by the leave of the Court.
30. The grant of leave as contemplated by sub-section (5) of Section 320 is not automatic nor it has to be mechanical on receipt of request by the appellant which may be agreed by the victim. The statutory requirement, makes it a clear duty of the Court to look into the nature of the offence and the evidence and to satisfy itself whether permission should be or should not be granted. The administration of criminal justice requires prosecution of all offenders by the State.
31. The prosecution by the State is the policy of law because all the offences are against the society. The offenders have to bring to the Courts and punish for their offences to maintain peace and order in the society. It is the duty of the prosecution to ensure that no offender goes scot-free without being punished for an offence. It is also the settled principle of law that innocent should not be punished.
PRINCIPLES GUIDING FOR COMPOSITION OF OFFENCE: 32. The question arises as to while granting leave of the Court for composition of offence, what is the guiding factor for the Court to grant or refuse the leave for composition of offence. The nature of offence, and its affect on society are relevant considerations while granting leave by the Court of compounding the offence. The offences which affect the public in general and create fear in the public in general are serious offences, nature of which offence may be relevant consideration for Court to grant or refuse the leave. When we look into the conclusion recorded by the trial court and the High Court after marshalling the evidence on record, it is established that both the accused have mercilessly beaten the deceased in the premises of the Police Station. Eleven injuries were caused on the body of the deceased by the accused. As per the evidence of PW-1, which has been believed by the Courts below, the victim was beaten mercilessly so that he passed on, stool, Urine and started bleeding.
OFFENCE BY POLICE OFFICER: 36. Present is a case where the offence was committed by the in-charge of the Police Station, Purighat, as well as the Senior Inspector, posted at the same Police Station. The Police of State is protector of law and order. The people look forward to the Police to protect their life and property. People go to the Police Station with the hope that their person and property will be protected by the police and injustice and offence committed on them shall be redressed and the guilty be punished. When the protector of people and society himself instead of protecting the people adopts brutality and inhumanly beat the person who comes to the police station, it is a matter of great public concern. The beating of a person in the Police Station is the concern for all and causes a sense of fear in the entire society.
37. We may refer to the judgment of this Court in Yashwant and others vs. State of Maharashtra, (2019) 18 SCC 571, where this Court laid down that when the police is violator of the law whose primary responsibility is to protect the law, the punishment for such violation has to be proportionately stringent so as to have effective deterrent effect and in still confidence in the society. Following was laid down in paragraph 34: –
“34. As the police in this case are the violators of law, who had the primary responsibility to protect and uphold law, thereby mandating the punishment for such violation to be proportionately stringent so as to have effective deterrent effect and instill confidence in the society. It may not be out of context to remind that the motto of Maharashtra State Police is “Sadrakshnaya Khalanighrahanaya” (Sanskrit: “To protect good and to punish evil”), which needs to be respected. Those, who are called upon to administer the criminal law, must bear, in mind, that they have a duty not merely to the individual accused before them, but also to the State and to the community at large. Such incidents involving police usually tend to deplete the confidence in our criminal justice system much more than those incidents involving private individuals. We must additionally factor this aspect while imposing an appropriate punishment on the accused herein.”
NO COMPOUNDING: 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 subsection (5). We, thus, reject the prayer of the appellants to compound the offence.
PARTY: PRAVAT CHANDRA MOHANTY vs. THE STATE OF ODISHA & ANR – CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 125 O F 2021 (arising out of SLP (Crl.)No.6174/2020) – February 11, 2021.
