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Daxaben vs. The State of Gujarat & Ors.

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 771Decided 29 Jul 2022
Criminal Appeal Nos. 1061-1084 of 2022
Indira Banerjee · V. Ramasubramanian

Background

The appellant's husband died by suicide in March 2020, leaving a note naming several people he said had cheated him of large sums of money. An FIR was registered against 12 accused persons under Section 306 IPC (abetment of suicide) based on a cousin/accountant's complaint. The accused approached the Gujarat High Court under Section 482 CrPC, and the High Court quashed the FIR and related proceedings solely on the ground that the accused had reached a monetary settlement with some of the deceased's relatives and the original informant: a settlement to which the deceased's widow (the appellant) was not a party. The widow appealed to the Supreme Court against the quashing.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court reviewed its precedents on when Section 482 CrPC can be used to quash criminal proceedings on the basis of a compromise, noting that this power is generally reserved for offences that are essentially private or civil in character (such as commercial or matrimonial disputes) and not for offences that are serious crimes against society. Drawing an analogy with its ruling that Section 307 IPC (attempt to murder) is a heinous offence against society that cannot be quashed merely because of a settlement, the Court held that Section 306 IPC (abetment of suicide) falls in the same category, and an FIR under it cannot be quashed based on a financial settlement with the informant or the deceased's relatives, especially one that excluded the deceased's own widow. The Court expressly did not decide whether the FIR actually disclosed an offence under Section 306, since the High Court had quashed it solely on the settlement ground, and allowed the appeals, setting aside the High Court's orders while clarifying its observations should not be read as findings on the merits.

Lesson Learnt

A financial settlement between an accused and some relatives of a deceased person cannot be used to quash a serious criminal case like abetment of suicide: such offences are treated as wrongs against society as a whole, not just the immediate family, so courts will not let a private compromise shut down the prosecution.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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