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Judgment
M. Sasidharan Nambiar, J.—Petitioners are the accused in L.P.119/2003 on the file of Judicial First Class Magistrate''s Court, Payyannur taken cognizance for the offence u/s 427 read with Section 34 of Indian Penal Code and Section 3(2)(a) of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act. Prosecution case is that Petitioners formed themselves into an unlawful assembly on 31.12.1996 at about 2 a.m. and destroyed sodium vapour lamp installed on the concrete electric post and caused loss to the Panchayat . Petition is filed u/s 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure to quash the proceedings contending that the entire disputes with the second Respondent Panchayat was settled evidenced by Annexure A4 whereunder Panchayat has decided to withdraw the prosecution on receipt of Rs. 10,000/- from the Petitioners evidenced by Annexure A3 receipt.
Learned Counsel appearing for the Petitioners, second Respondent and learned Public Prosecutor were heard.
Though an offence u/s 427 of Indian Penal Code is compoundable, an offence u/s 3(2)(a) of Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act (hereinafter shown as PDPP Act) is a non-compoundable offence. Though Annexure A3 and A4 establish that Petitioners have compensated the Panchayat for the damage sustained, based on the said settlement, an offence under the PDPP Act cannot be quashed accepting the settlement as it cannot be said that the offence committed is purely personal in nature against the second Respondent. Hence petition is dismissed.