“Section 197 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 is in pari materia with Section 197 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. In State of Orissa v. Ganesh Chandra Jew, AIR 1955 SC 287 this Court interpreted the use of the expression ‘official duty’ to imply that the act or omission must have been […]
Read more "Section 197 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973"We may recall the Constitution Bench Judgment of this Court in Additional District Magistrate, Jabalpur v. Shivakant Shukla, (1976) 2 SCC 521 where Majority of the Judges had taken the view that after proclamation of Emergency under Article 352, no proceedings can be initiated for enforcement of right under Article 21. Justice A.N. Ray, C.J., […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray XLVIII"“The case hinges entirely on circumstantial evidence. The cause of death was found to be shock and hemorrhage due to excessive bleeding caused by multiple wounds. It cannot be disputed that the death was homicidal and it was caused with the intent to commit murder. The circumstances may indicate that the theft and murder must […]
Read more "The Questionable Murder"A circumstance is ‘suspicious’ when it is not normal. The suspicious features must be ‘real, germane and valid’ and not merely the ‘fantasy of the doubting mind’ [Shivakumar, Civil Appeal No. 6076 of 2009]. An individual factor may not be decisive. If after taking all the factors together, conscience of the Court is not satisfied […]
Read more "The Proof of Valid Wills II"Broadcasts on Republic TV on 16.04.2020 and R Bharat on 21.04.2020, in relation to an incident at Gadchinchle [Palgarh, Maharashtra], led to the lodging of multiple First Information Reports against Arnab Ranjan Goswami. The broadcast is the foundation of the allegation that offences have been committed. To allow a journalist to be subjected to the […]
Read more "First Information Report II"“Ravishankar v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (2019) 9 SCC 689 held that, “This Court has increasingly become cognizant of ‘residual doubt’ in many recent cases which effectively create a higher standard of proof over and above the ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ standard used at the stage of conviction, as a safeguard against routine Capital Sentencing, keeping […]
Read more "Review of Death Penalty XIX"“The problem of drug addicts is international and the mafia is working throughout the world. It is a crime against the society and it has to be dealt with iron hands. Use of drugs by the young people in India has increased. The drugs are being used for weakening of the nation. The view, in […]
Read more "The Problem of Drug Addicts"Raja and 13 others enrolled themselves in ‘Tamilar Pasarai’ to blast ‘Namakkal Kavignar Maligai’. “The law of confession is embodied in Sections 24 to 30 of The Indian Evidence Act, 1872. It is well-settled that a confession which is not free from doubt about its voluntariness, is not admissible in evidence. A confession caused by […]
Read more "The Confession"On 21.04.2007, around 5:30 PM, as soon as the marriage procession reached the courtyard, Bhagwan Singh fired celebratory gunshots from a licensed gun. The pellets struck 5; 2 succumbed to their injuries. The shots were fired towards the roof and were not aimed at any of the victims. Trial Court as well as the High […]
Read more "Celebratory Gunshots"My Lord, Satoshi Nakamoto? “He still remains anonymous.” Reserve Bank of India, on 06.04.2018, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 35A read with Section 36(1)(a) and Section 56 of The Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and Section 45JA and 45L of The Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 and Section 10(2) read with […]
Read more "My Precious Bitcoin"My Lord, ‘Preliminary Inquiry’, under Section 340, Mandatory for Court before ‘Complaint’, under Section 195? “In any event, given that the decision of the Three-Judge Bench in Sharad Pawar, (2010) 15 SCC 290 did not assign any reason as to why it was departing from a Coordinate Bench in Pritish, (2002) 1 SCC 253 and […]
Read more "Referred to Larger Bench XXII: Mandatory Preliminary Inquiry"A certain someone, associated with Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Rajan in the past, was on the run since the ’90s. It has been pointed out earlier that, no fugitive or mastermind is going to flee to Chile, Netherlands, Switzerland or Belgium. This one fled to Burkina Faso and won hearts by doing social work; the […]
Read more "Extraditable Fugitives"Section 362 begins with the words “save as otherwise provided by this Code or by any other law for the time being in force”. Legislature was aware that there are situations where altering or reviewing of a Criminal Court Judgment is contemplated in the Code itself or any other law for the time being in […]
Read more "Section 362 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973"“When criminality enters into the grass-root level as well as at the higher levels there is a feeling that ‘monstrosity’ is likely to wither away the multitude and eventually usher in a dreadful fear that would rule supreme creating an incurable chasm in the spine of the whole citizenry” [Hon’ble Justice Dipak Misra, 05.02.2015]. In […]
Read more "Monstrosity of Winnability"I have written on Supratim Sarkar’s previous 3 books here, here and here. His latest effort – The 7 Stories, (Ananda, 2020) – has not been translated into English yet. It would be unfair if I don’t even attempt the same. There were interesting bits on i) an Irish woman who had arrived to assist […]
Read more "The Photo Album"“Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia, (1980) 2 SCC 565 holds the field for number of years and the same has been followed by all the Courts in the country. Therefore, Siddharam Satlingappa Mhetre, (2011) 1 SCC 694 is not correct law in light of the observations made in Paragraphs 42 and 43 in Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia. Salauddin […]
Read more "Anticipatory Bail II"“The Indian Coast Guard received some intelligence inputs with regard to suspicious activities of MV Hennry. MV Hennry was flying a flag of Panama. The Master of the Ship, Suprit Tiwari, was not in possession of any licence, permit and could not even produce any document pertaining to departure from last port of call i.e. […]
Read more "MV Hennry"Aftab was lodged in Tihar when he met Asif Reza Khan. Asif introduced Aftab to Omar Sheikh who had a profound effect. December, 1999: Government of India was forced to release Omar Sheikh in exchange for the safe return of IC 814. Aftab Ansari, soon after, was issued a Pakistan Passport [J872142, Safir Mohammad Rana]. […]
Read more "Tihar to Tihar"Section 2(33), The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015: “heinous offences” includes the offences for which the minimum punishment under The Indian Penal Code, 1860 or any other law for the time being in force is imprisonment for 7 years or more; xxx xxx xxx Learned Senior Counsel, Siddharth Luthra submitted that, […]
Read more "Section 2(33), The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015"“Medical negligence comprises of the following constituents: (i) A legal duty to exercise due care on the part of the medical professional; (ii) failure to inform the patient of the risks involved; (iii) the patient suffers damage as a consequence of the undisclosed risk by the medical professional; (iv) if the risk had been disclosed, […]
Read more "Medical Negligence and Consumer Law II"