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Nanda Gopalan v. State of Kerala

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 714 of 2015)Decided 24 Apr 2015
Criminal Appeal No. 714 of 2015
Justice J. Chelameswar · Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

Background

The appellant attacked his relative (the injured, PW-1) with a bat made of a coconut leaf stem and a stone, causing serious facial and ear injuries that required 32 days of hospitalisation. He was convicted under Sections 324 and 326 IPC and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment. While his appeal was pending before the Kerala High Court, the parties reached a settlement, but the High Court refused to quash or compound the non-compoundable Section 326 charge on that basis alone.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court, with senior counsel Ram Jethmalani appearing as amicus curiae, held that Section 326 IPC (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) is not compoundable under Section 320 CrPC, and courts cannot bypass this statutory bar even through a mutual compromise, following its precedents in Dasan, Bankat, and Ram Lal. The Court rejected the argument to reclassify the offences to lesser, compoundable ones since the weapons used (bat and stone) were found factually to be "dangerous weapons" and this was never challenged at trial. However, taking the genuine compromise between close relatives into account as a sentencing factor, the Court reduced the appellant's prison sentence to time already served, while significantly increasing the compensation payable to the victim to Rs. 2 lakhs (to be paid within three months, failing which the original sentence would be revived).

Lesson Learnt

A victim and accused settling privately cannot force a court to compound a serious, legally non-compoundable offence like causing grievous hurt with a dangerous weapon, but such a genuine compromise can still be weighed by the court to reduce the prison sentence while substituting a higher compensation payment.

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

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