Section 320 CrPC: Compounding of Offences With or Without Permission of the Court
Section 320 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 governed the compounding of specified offences under the Indian Penal Code, 1860 before the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 came into force. Compounding is a statutory process by which the person legally authorised by Section 320 agrees to settle a listed offence. A valid composition under Section 320 has the effect of an acquittal of the accused.
Meaning and scope of Section 320 CrPC
Section 320 CrPC created an exhaustive statutory framework for compounding specified IPC offences. Sub-section (1) identified offences that could be compounded by the specified person without first obtaining permission of the Court. Sub-section (2) identified offences that could be compounded only with permission of the Court before which the prosecution was pending.
Compounding is different from withdrawal from prosecution under Section 321 CrPC. It is also distinct from the High Court's inherent jurisdiction in appropriate cases involving settlement; Section 320 itself states that no offence shall be compounded except as provided by that section.
Offences compoundable without permission of the Court - Section 320(1) CrPC
The following table presents the central CrPC framework immediately before the new criminal codes came into force. The person shown in the third column is the person authorised to compound the offence.
| IPC section | Offence | Person who may compound |
|---|---|---|
| 298 | Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings | The person whose religious feelings are intended to be wounded |
| 323 | Voluntarily causing hurt | The person to whom the hurt is caused |
| 334 | Voluntarily causing hurt on provocation | The person to whom the hurt is caused |
| 335 | Voluntarily causing grievous hurt on grave and sudden provocation | The person to whom the hurt is caused |
| 341, 342 | Wrongfully restraining or wrongfully confining any person | The person restrained or confined |
| 343 | Wrongfully confining a person for three days or more | The person confined |
| 344 | Wrongfully confining a person for ten days or more | The person confined |
| 346 | Wrongfully confining a person in secret | The person confined |
| 352, 355, 358 | Assault or use of criminal force in the specified cases | The person assaulted or to whom criminal force is used |
| 379 | Theft | The owner of the property stolen |
| 403 | Dishonest misappropriation of property | The owner of the property misappropriated |
| 407 | Criminal breach of trust by a carrier, wharfinger, etc. | The owner of the property in respect of which the breach of trust has been committed |
| 411 | Dishonestly receiving stolen property knowing it to be stolen | The owner of the property stolen |
| 414 | Assisting in concealment or disposal of stolen property | The owner of the property stolen |
| 417 | Cheating | The person cheated |
| 419 | Cheating by personation | The person cheated |
| 421 | Dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property to prevent distribution among creditors | The creditors affected |
| 422 | Dishonestly or fraudulently preventing debt being available for creditors | The creditors affected |
| 423 | Dishonest or fraudulent execution of deed of transfer containing false statement of consideration | The person affected by the offence |
| 424 | Dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property | The person affected by the offence |
| 426, 427 | Mischief where the only loss or damage is to a private person | The person to whom the loss or damage is caused |
| 428 | Mischief by killing or maiming an animal of the value specified in the IPC | The owner of the animal |
| 429 | Mischief by killing or maiming cattle or other animal of the value specified in the IPC | The owner of the cattle or animal |
| 430 | Mischief by injury to works of irrigation or by wrongfully diverting water | The person to whom the loss or damage is caused |
| 447 | Criminal trespass | The person in possession of the property trespassed upon |
| 448 | House-trespass | The person in possession of the property trespassed upon |
| 451 | House-trespass in order to commit an offence punishable with imprisonment, where the intended offence is not theft | The person in possession of the house trespassed upon |
| 482 | Using a false property mark | The person to whom loss or injury is caused by such use |
| 483 | Counterfeiting a property mark used by another | The person to whom loss or injury is caused by such use |
| 486 | Knowingly selling, exposing or possessing for sale goods marked with a counterfeit property mark | The person to whom loss or injury is caused by such use |
| 491 | Criminal breach of contract of service | The person with whom the offender has contracted |
| 497 | Adultery (historical IPC provision; Section 497 IPC was declared unconstitutional in 2018) | Historical entry in Section 320 table; no operative prosecution can be founded on Section 497 IPC |
| 498 | Enticing, taking away or detaining with criminal intent a married woman | The husband of the woman and the woman |
| 500 | Defamation, including the specified public-function complaint situation | The person defamed |
| 501 | Printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory | The person defamed |
| 502 | Sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter, knowing it to contain such matter | The person defamed |
| 504 | Intentional insult intended to provoke breach of the peace | The person insulted |
| 506 | Criminal intimidation (subject to the applicable part and local amendments) | The person intimidated |
| 508 | Inducing a person to believe that he or she will become an object of divine displeasure | The person induced |
| 509 | Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman or intrude upon her privacy | The woman whom it was intended to insult or whose privacy was intruded upon |
Important: Section 497 IPC (adultery) was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2018. Its historical appearance in the statutory compounding table does not revive the offence. Local or State amendments to Section 320 must also be checked where applicable.
Offences compoundable with permission of the Court - Section 320(2) CrPC
For offences in this category, a private settlement by itself was not sufficient for statutory compounding. Permission of the Court before which the prosecution was pending was required.
| IPC section | Offence | Person who may compound |
|---|---|---|
| 312 | Causing miscarriage | The woman to whom miscarriage is caused |
| 325 | Voluntarily causing grievous hurt | The person to whom the hurt is caused |
| 337 | Causing hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others | The person to whom hurt is caused |
| 338 | Causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others | The person to whom grievous hurt is caused |
| 357 | Assault or criminal force in attempting wrongfully to confine a person | The person assaulted or to whom force was used |
| 381 | Theft by clerk or servant of property in possession of master | The owner of the property stolen |
| 406 | Criminal breach of trust | The owner of the property in respect of which the breach of trust has been committed |
| 408 | Criminal breach of trust by clerk or servant | The owner of the property in respect of which the breach of trust has been committed |
| 418 | Cheating a person whose interest the offender was bound by law or legal contract to protect | The person cheated |
| 420 | Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, or making, alteration or destruction of a valuable security | The person cheated |
| 494 | Marrying again during the lifetime of a husband or wife | The husband or wife of the person so marrying |
Other rules under Section 320(3) to Section 320(9) CrPC
Abetment, attempt and common liability - Section 320(3)
Where an offence was compoundable under Section 320, the abetment of that offence, an attempt to commit it where the attempt itself was an offence, and liability under Sections 34 or 149 IPC could be compounded in the same manner.
Minor, person under disability, or deceased complainant - Section 320(4)
Where the person otherwise competent to compound was under eighteen years of age or fell within the statutory disability described in the pre-BNSS text, a person competent to contract on that person's behalf could compound with permission of the Court. If the competent person had died, the legal representative, as defined in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, could compound with the consent of the Court.
After committal or during appeal - Section 320(5)
After an accused had been committed for trial, or after conviction where an appeal was pending, composition could not be allowed without leave of the Court to which the accused was committed or before which the appeal was to be heard.
Revision - Section 320(6)
A High Court or Court of Session exercising revisional powers under Section 401 CrPC could allow a person to compound an offence that the person was competent to compound under Section 320.
Previous conviction - Section 320(7)
An offence could not be compounded where, because of a previous conviction, the accused was liable to enhanced punishment or punishment of a different kind for that offence.
Effect of compounding - Section 320(8) and 320(9)
Under Section 320(8), composition of an offence had the effect of an acquittal of the accused with whom the offence was compounded. Section 320(9) further provided that no offence could be compounded except as provided by Section 320.
Related CrPC provisions
Continue to Section 321 CrPC - Withdrawal from prosecution, Sections 322 and 323 CrPC - Procedure where Magistrate cannot dispose of the case or finds that it should be committed, Sections 324 and 325 CrPC, and Sections 326 and 327 CrPC.
For a focused page on offences compoundable without permission of the Court, see compoundable offences under Section 320 CrPC without Court permission.