2026:HHC:38481 IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Cr.MMO No. 793 of 2026 Date of decision: 08.09.2026. Akshit Bihal ...Petitioner. Versus State of H.P. & another ...Respondents. Coram: The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Chirag Bhanu Singh, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 For the petitioner : Mr. Dikken Kumar Thakur, Advocate. For the respondents : Mr. Lokender Kutlehria, Additional Advocate General, for respondent No.1. Mr. Dalip Kumar, Advocate, for respondent No.2. Chirag Bhanu Singh, Judge (oral): The petitioner has preferred the present petition under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short ‘BNSS’), invoking the inherent powers of this Court for quashing of FIR No. 91 of 2026 dated 24.03.2026, registered under the provisions of Sections 296, 352 and 351 of Bhartiya Nayaya Sanhita, 2023 (for short ‘BNS’) in Police Station Sadar, Hamirpur, District Hamirpur, H.P. 2. It is the contention of the petitioner that with the 1 Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? Yes -2- intervention of friends, elders and relatives, respondent No.2/complainant has mutually agreed to compromise the matter to maintain good relations in the future. The compromise deed has been effected with mutual and free consent of the parties, which is completely voluntary. Since one of the offenses i.e. Section 296 of BNS is non-compoundable, the petitioner has approached this Court. The petitioner has also filed a copy of the compromise deed which is a part of the record. 3. Vide order dated 20.08.2026, the parties had been directed to remain present in the Court to vouch for the genuineness of the compromise deed. Today, both petitioner/ accused and the complainant are present in person. The statement of the complainant, Sh. Kewal Sharma has been recorded. He has unequivocally asserted that he has compromised the matter with the accused. He has identified his signatures on the compromise deed annexed with the petition as Annexure P-2. 4. A recital of the FIR, prima facie, suggests that both of them had a verbal altercation akin to a road rage. The accused is stated to have uttered filthy abuses to the complainant and based on that, the FIR had come to be registered. -3- 5. Without going into the merits of the contention whether even the provisions of Section 296 of BNS were attracted, suffice it to say that the verbal road rage came to be reported and hence the FIR. The accused happens to be a young boy of 23 years. Though, it was not expected of him to have exhibited such gross conduct, nonetheless, seeing to the settled proposition of law that even offenses which are non- compoundable can be quashed by this Court while exercising its inherent jurisdiction under Section 528 of the BNSS, as is explicitly clear from the ratio laid down by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Gian Singh vs. State of Punjab (2012) 10 SCC 303, further reiterated by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Anand Kumar @ Sanjay Lal Wani vs. State of H.P. & another SLP (Crl.) No. 19051 of 2025, decided on 31.08.2026, the power of quashment may be exercised keeping in view the fact that the victim himself is authorizing the settlement. 6. Keeping in view the genesis of the occurrence, the age of the accused, it can safely be said that continuing with the FIR may not subserve any good. Admittedly, the offense committed was not such so as to jeopardize the social fabric. It was a mere skirmish and that too verbal. It was apparently a case of a road rage having been blown out of proportion. Thus, seen to the totality of the facts and circumstances discussed -4- herein above, the FIR in question is ordered to be quashed and set aside. 7. As a sequel, the present petition is allowed and FIR No. 91 of 2026 dated 24.03.2026, registered under the provisions of Sections 296, 352 and 351 of the BNS in Police Station Sadar, Hamirpur, District Hamirpur, H.P. is quashed and set aside and so the consequent proceedings, if any. 8. The petition is disposed off accordingly. Pending applications, if any, also stand disposed off. (Chirag Bhanu Singh) Judge 8th September, 2026. (kck)