Gwalior HC refuses to quash FIR in firing case on basis of compromise between parties

The High Court in Gwalior has held that where the allegations include firing a weapon and attempting to kill an injured person, an FIR cannot be quashed merely because the two sides have reached a compromise. The court declined to quash an FIR linked to a shooting in which a woman labourer was hit by a bullet.

Justice Rajesh Kumar Gupta recently dismissed the petition of Santosh Gurjar and another suspect. The petition was filed under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which is equivalent to Section 482 of the CrPC. The petitioners sought to have the FIR registered at Sirol police station in Gwalior district under Sections 308, 294 and 34 of the IPC quashed.

According to the High Court's order, the prosecution's allegations show at this stage that the petitioners allegedly used a weapon and fired at the injured person with the intent to kill. The court said that, given the nature and manner of the alleged incident, it could not be said that the matter was essentially civil or private in nature.

According to the prosecution, the incident took place on September 15, 2023. The complainant, a woman, was working as a labourer with members of her family on a plot in Pawan Sut Colony in Sirol that day. The suspects Bharat Gurjar, Ram Lakhan Gurjar and Santosh Gurjar, standing on either side of the road, allegedly began hurling abuses at each other and firing shots. Four more people later arrived and also began firing.

It is alleged that a bullet tore through the woman's sari and hit her below the navel, and she began to bleed. Her husband and sister-in-law took her to the district hospital in Morena, where her dehati complaint was recorded. The case was registered on that basis.

Taking note of the compromise between the parties, the court said it alone could not be a ground to exercise the inherent powers under Section 528 of the BNSS, because such relief cannot be granted in cases where the allegations disclose a serious offence with an impact on society as a whole. The court also said that, in serious allegations involving weapons, it would not be proper to exercise this power on the strength of a compromise alone.