A case may be compounded at any time before the sentence is pronounced. Therefore, a petition of compromise, filed by the parties when the judgment was actually being written, should be accepted. Aslam ILR 45 Cal 816.

An offense falling under subsection 1, i.e., an offense for which the composition does not require permission from the court, can be compounded even before a charge of the offense is laid in court by the injured party. A composition made to prevent a case from coming before the court is just as lawful under this section as one made after the case has come into court.

A Magistrate cannot allow composition after the records of the case have been called for by the High Court under section 397 with a view to transferring the case (Maruti ILR 49 543). An appeal being a continuation of the proceedings, the appellate court has no jurisdiction to refuse to allow the parties to compound the offense under section 320(1) (Biswanath AIR 1959 Cal 443). An offense was compounded with the permission of the Supreme Court while an appeal was pending before it, and the conviction was set aside.

An application for compounding an offense in a court of appeal is not competent after disposal of the appeal. After the case is disposed of, the court becomes functus officio and cannot thereafter permit compounding of a case.

Subsection (5) applies not only to offenses compoundable under subsection (1) but also to offenses compoundable with the permission of the court under subsection (2). Therefore, permission to compound may be given even by the Supreme Court in an appeal to the Supreme Court (Bhim Singh vs. State of U.P AIR 1974 SC 1744, 1974 4 SCC 97).