Witness Protection

Mrinal Das v. State of Tripura, (2011) 9 SCC 479 observed, credible evidence even of a hostile witness can form basis for conviction in a criminal trial. It is a harsh reality, particularly, in those cases where accused persons/criminals are tried for heinous offences, or where accused persons are influential persons or in a dominating […]

Review of Death Penalty XXI

It would be profitable to refer to Mohd. Mannan v. State of Bihar, (2019) 16 SCC 584 in which it was held, before imposing extreme penalty of Death Sentence, Court should satisfy itself Death Sentence is imperative, as otherwise convict would be a threat to society and there is no possibility of reform or rehabilitation […]

Section 307, Indian Penal Code I

It is by now a lucid dictum, for purpose of constituting an offence under Section 307, IPC there are two ingredients – first, whether there was any intention or knowledge on part of accused to cause death of victim, and, second, such intent or knowledge was followed by some overt actus rea in execution thereof, […]

Colorable Investigation

There is a subtle difference between a defective investigation and one brought forth by a calculated and deliberate action or inaction. While dealing with a defective investigation, Court is expected to sift evidence available and find out truth. Every case involves a journey towards truth. We are distressed to note, investigation has not been conducted […]

Claim of Juvenility I

A claim of juvenility may be raised at any stage of a criminal proceeding, even after a final disposal. An application claiming juvenility could be made either before Court or JJ Board. It is neither feasible nor desirable to lay down an abstract formula to determine age of a person. It has to be on […]

Ut Res Magis Valeat Quam Pereat

The act of ‘touching’ sexual part of body or any other act involving ‘physical contact’, if done with ‘sexual intent’, would amount to ‘sexual assault’ within meaning of Section 7 of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. Restricting interpretation of words ‘touch’ or ‘physical contact’ to ‘skin to skin contact’ would not […]

Injured Eye-Witness

Refaz Kotwar stabbed Mohd. Jamil Kotwar with a dagger. We see no reason to doubt testimony of witnesses examined. PW7 and PW8 are injured eye-witnesses. State of Madhya Pradesh v. Mansingh, (2003) 10 SCC 414 held, evidence of an injured eye-witness has great evidentiary value and unless compelling reasons exist, their statements are not to […]

Review of Death Penalty XX

High Court of Karnataka confirmed Death Sentence for Irappa Siddappa Murgannavar. Shanti Devi v. State of Rajasthan, (2012) 12 SCC 158 had considered, factum of recovery of body at instance of accused is a strong circumstance for conviction. Similar is Ranjit Kumar Haldar v. State of Sikkim, (2019) 7 SCC 684. On an overall view […]

Vicarious Liability

Girdhari Lal Gupta v. D.H. Mehta, (1971) 3 SCC 189; State of Karnataka v. Pratap Chand, (1981) 2 SCC 335; Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Ram Kishan Rohtagi, (1983) 1 SCC 1; Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Purshotam Dass Jhunjunwala, (1983) 1 SCC 9; National Small Industries Corporation Limited v. Harmeet Singh Paintal, (2010) 3 […]

Preventive Detention Statute II / The Revival of Ray LXXIV

Sarabjeet Singh Mokha is said to have procured fake Remdesivir injections which were administered to patients during COVID-19 pandemic to make illegal profits. Article 22 of the Constitution provides specific protections to undertrials and detainees in India. The communication of grounds is in aid of facilitating right of detenu to submit a representation against ‘order […]

The Nature of Judicial Power: Pegasus

“If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself.” - George Orwell, 1984. Orwellian concern. September, 2018 – Citizen Lab released software capabilities of a ‘spyware suite’ called Pegasus, produced by NSO Group. Historically, privacy rights have been ‘property centric’ rather than ‘people centric’. In 1604, in Semayne’s case, 77 […]

Section 511, Indian Penal Code

There is a visible distinction between ‘preparation’ and ‘attempt’ to commit an offence and it all depends on statutory edict coupled with nature of evidence produced in a case; stage of ‘preparation’ consists of deliberation, devising or arranging means or measures, which would be necessary; an ‘attempt’ starts immediately after completion of ‘preparation’; ‘preparation’ or […]

Blood of Human Origin III

Two-Judges in Kansa Behra v. State of Orissa, (1987) 3 SCC 480 observed, “few small blood-stains on clothes of a person may even be of his own blood.” Do remember one Raghav, who had earlier been convicted of murdering his First Wife and Son, based on circumstantial evidence. Dead bodies were/are still missing. Relevant Serologist […]

Investigation II

Gauri Lankesh was shot dead by unknown assailants, near her house at Rajarajeshwari Nagar [Bengaluru], on 05.09.2017. _____ This is limited to consideration of whether prior approval by Commissioner of Police [Bengaluru City], in connection with offence registered as Crime No. 221/2017, is valid or otherwise. We hold, same does not suffer from any infirmity. […]

Investigation I

H N Rishbud v. State of Delhi, (1955) 1 SCR 1150; Ramsinh Bavaji Jadeja v. State of Gujarat, (1994) 2 SCC 685; Union of India v. Prakash P. Hinduja, (2003) 6 SCC 195. What emerges is, an investigation commences upon receipt of information by Police which discloses commission of a cognizable offence. However, mere receipt […]

Furlough I

Mota Bhagwan Asaram was also convicted under Section 377, IPC. The Prisons (Bombay Furlough and Parole) Rules, 1959 were made pursuant to Section 59 of The Prisons Act, 1894 and are applicable in State of Gujarat. State of Maharashtra v. Suresh Pandurang Darvakar, (2006) 4 SCC 776 distinguished parole from furlough. The difference was also […]

Settlement Deed Cheque

This is a case of cheques, issued pursuant to a deed of compromise, being dishonoured. The dishonour of cheques, issued subsequent to a settlement agreement, would give rise to a fresh cause of action attracting liability under Section 138 and other remedies under civil law and criminal law. A contrary interpretation would lead to contradictory […]

Retrial

It emerges from decisions, Appellate Court may direct a retrial only in ‘exceptional’ circumstances to avert a miscarriage of justice; mere lapses in investigation are not sufficient to warrant a direction for retrial; only if lapses are so grave so as to prejudice, can a retrial be directed; determination of whether a ‘shoddy’ investigation/trial has […]

Lalita Kumari III

Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of U.P., (2014) 2 SCC 1 was analyzed by a Three-Judge Bench in Yashwant Sinha v. CBI, (2020) 2 SCC 338. Two-Judge Bench in State of Telangana v. Managipet, (2019) 19 SCC 87 noted, while Lalita Kumari held a preliminary enquiry was desirable in cases of alleged corruption, that does not […]

Section 141, The NI Act II

In light of S.M.S. Pharmaceuticals Ltd. v. Neeta Bhalla, (2005) 8 SCC 89 in addition to asserting Directors are in-charge and responsible for conduct of business, if statutory compliance of Section 141 has been made, it is not open for High Courts to interfere under Section 482, CrPC unless it comes across some unimpeachable, incontrovertible evidence […]

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Criminal Law