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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.  696  OF 2013 (SPECIAL LEAVE PETITION(CRL.)NO.9953 OF 2012)  

RAJIV KUMAR & ORS.                  APPELLANTS

VERSUS

RAKSHA KUMARI                RESPONDENT

O R D E R

1. Leave granted.

2. This  appeal is  directed against  the judgment  and order  

passed by the Punjab & Haryana High Court at Chandigarh in Criminal  

Miscellaneous No.5205 of 2012 (O & M), dated 31.10.2012. By the  

impugned  judgment  and  order,  the  High  Court  has  dismissed  the  

petition filed under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,  

1973 (the ‘code’, for short), to quash the Criminal Complaint Case  

No.108 of 2003, dated 17.09.2003.

3. When the matter was posted before the High Court, the High  

Court had issued notice to explore the possibility of arriving at a  

compromise.

4. However, on a later date, when the learned counsel for the  

parties informed the Court that settlement between the parties could  

not take place, the learned Judge, without considering the petition  

on merits, has dismissed the same.

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5. In view of the above observations, we are of the opinion  

that the order so passed by the learned Judge is not in accordance  

with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.  Therefore, the  

said order needs to be set aside and the matter requires to be  

remanded back to the High Court for fresh consideration on merits.

6. In the result, we allow this appeal and set aside the  

judgment and order of the High Court and remand the matter back to  

the High Court for fresh consideration on merits in accordance with  

law,  after  affording  reasonable  opportunity  of  hearing  to  the  

parties.

Ordered accordingly.

....................J. (H.L. DATTU)

....................J. (JAGDISH SINGH KHEHAR)

NEW DELHI; MAY 03, 2013