Nithyakalyani Narayanan. V
On September 15th, the Delhi High Court quashed an FIR pertaining to the offence of attempt to commit culpable homicide after the parties involved arrived at a settlement and directed them to undertake “basic cleaning work” at four police stations in the city.
A single-judge bench of Justice Saurabh Banerjee held, “In view of the fact that the settlement has been arrived at between the parties…in order to bring a quietus to the present disputes…this court is of the opinion that continuation of the aforesaid FIR will be an exercise in futility”.
The Court quashed the FIR registered on July 28 under Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code and all proceedings emanating thereof.
Justice Banerjee directed the 24 parties involved in the case that “all of them would divide themselves in 4 groups of 6 persons each who would undertake basic cleaning work for 3 days i.e. on Monday, Thursday and Sunday of the week commencing from 18.09.2023 at the below-mentioned 4 police stations namely Mehrauli, Fatehpur Beri, Maidan Garhi and Neb Sarai to the satisfaction of the investigating officer concerned”.
The High Court remarked that these parties should be at liberty to decide amongst themselves about the composition of each group of six persons and the police station the groups have to perform the cleaning duty.
The court noted that the parties had entered into a compromise deed amongst themselves on September 2. The respondents informed the court that they voluntarily settled all disputes with the petitioners and that they did not wish to pursue criminal proceedings against the petitioners.
As per the FIR, the parties who were neighbours had allegedly gotten into a verbal argument and a scuffle with each other and allegedly stone pelting had also taken place.
The Court disposed of the petition and the pending applications.
Name of the case: Sagar & Ors. vs. State (N.C.T. of Delhi) & Ors.
Case No.: W.P.(CRL) 2652/2023
Bench: Justice Saurabh Banerjee
Click here to access the judgment.