Offence - Abate - compromise - settlement

In a case of fraud against a bank, the accused person cannot get away by 'settling' the criminal complaint by repaying the amount involved, the Supreme Court stated in the judgment, Central Bureau of Investigation vs Maninder. The complaint was that the accused person opened a current account in the name of a firm with Punjab National Bank in Ludhiana and got an advance. Later, the vigilance officer of the bank found that the bill of lading produced by him was forged. Therefore, Maninder was arrested and criminal prosecution was launc-hed against him under the penal code provisions and the Prevention of Corruption Act. He moved the Delhi high court claiming that he had settled the affair with the bank after paying the amount and, therefore, the complaint should be quashed. The court did so. Therefore, the CBI filed an appeal. Allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court stated the high court should not have exercised its discretion to quash the complaint without adequate reason. "In such economic offences, Court must not only keep in view that money has been paid to the bank which has been defrauded but also society at large. It is not a case of simple assault or a theft of a trivial amount; but the offence with which we are concerned is a well planned and was committed with a deliberate design with an eye of personal profit regardless of consequence to the society at large. To quash the proceeding merely on the ground that the accused has settled the amount with the bank would be a misplaced sympathy. If the prosecution against the economic offenders are not allowed to continue, the entire community is aggrieved," it said.