Compounding under the Negotiable Instruments Act bars compensation under CrPC Section 357(3) once the sentence has no legal basis.

After compounding of a Section 138 offence under the Negotiable Instruments Act through mediation, the sentence ceased to have a legal basis and compensation under Section 357(3) CrPC was not maintainable because that provision applies only where a sentence is imposed. The request for refund of the amount deposited at the time of admission of the appeal also failed. The Court further reiterated that revisional jurisdiction under Sections 397, 401 and 482 CrPC is narrow and cannot be exercised like an appeal unless the impugned order is perverse, illegal, or patently erroneous. No such infirmity was found in the revisional order, so interference was declined.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled, after compounding of the offence under the Negotiable Instruments Act, to seek compensation and refund of the amount deposited at the time of admission of the appeal, and whether the revisional order suffered from any legal infirmity warranting interference.

Analysis: The offence under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act was compounded under Section 147 of that Act pursuant to a mediation settlement arrived at by the parties. Once the offence stood compounded, the basis for imposition of sentence no longer survived, and Section 357(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, which operates where a sentence is imposed, had no application. The request for compensation was therefore untenable. The Court also held that the revisional jurisdiction under Sections 397, 401 and 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 is narrow and is not to be exercised like an appeal unless the impugned order is perverse, illegal, or patently erroneous. No such infirmity was found in the order under challenge.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to the claimed compensation or refund, and no interference with the impugned order was called for; the challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: After compounding of an offence under Section 147 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the criminal sentence ceases to have operative basis, and compensation under Section 357(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 cannot be claimed in the absence of a subsisting sentence.

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