Justice Arvind Kumar Mishra of Allahabad High Court commenting on (Retd.) Justice Shyam Lal, in Nupur Talwar v. State of U.P., [Criminal Appeal No. 293 of 2014]: “Learned Trial Judge has prejudged things in his own fashion, drawn conclusions by embarking on erroneous analogy conjecturing to the brim on apparent facts telling a different story […]
Read more "The Finesse of a Trial Judge"On 19.11.2002, Ms. Pushpa Lekhumal Tolani, of Indonesian Passport, carried with her, on her flight from London to New Delhi, 28 packages containing 44 items of jewellery worth Rs. 25 Lakhs. The competent authority confiscated her articles and imposed ‘fines and penalties’ worth Rs. 18 Lakhs. HC quashed the order. In an appeal by Directorate […]
Read more "The Comfortable Life of Gold Smugglers II"Former Delhi Excise Chief, Dr. Anup Kumar Srivastava received a reprieve from Supreme Court, recently. “There is no material evidence on record in order to bring home a charge of conspiracy against Respondent. There is no direct or circumstantial evidence to prove, Respondent has demanded any illegal gratification and has accepted or obtained any such […]
Read more "The Question of Six Zeroes in Call No. 51"Les Clefs d’Or [‘lay clay door’, meaning ‘keys of gold’] is an International Network of Concierges expected to make ‘impossible requests of a guest possible, no matter how strange’. They have ‘sources of inside information, intelligence and communication’. Oberoi, Mumbai in 1986 was first to have a Member of Les Clefs d’Or. Sunny Prasher, Member […]
Read more "Notorious Hotel Rooms: The Case of The Sealed Suite"Criminal cases based on circumstantial evidence can be resolved in several ways in a work of fiction. Judges do not have such liberty. It would be in fitness of things to assume, there is only one right way for them to interpret ‘circumstances’. Two lovers, in love forever, alone in a stranger’s house, scribbled their […]
Read more "The Baazigar Suicide Letter"As 1992 drew to a close, simmering communal fervor came to a boil as a BJP-led mob demolished 465-year-old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. Mumbai witnessed some of the bloodiest riots. Sunil Dutt organized help and medical aid for all those injured, regardless of their religion, origin or constituency, while Sanjay too pitched in. […]
Read more "My Name is Abu Salem I"An innovative, 51-year old, Former English Batsman was coaching the South Africans during the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup. He went by the name Bob Woolmer. He allowed his captain Hansie Cronje to take the field against India wearing an earpiece. The move was unfair but did not technically breach any rules. Only later would […]
Read more "A World Cup Murder"“DNA is the abbreviation of Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid. It is the basic genetic material in all human body cells. It is not contained in red blood corpuscles. It is, however, present in white corpuscles. It carries the genetic code. DNA structure determines human character, behaviour and body characteristics. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers […]
Read more "Science For Everyone: DNA Again"Can citizens claim an absolute right over their body parts and refuse to give digital samples of their fingerprints and iris for Aadhaar enrollment? Senior Advocate, Shyam Divan argued recently that, in the digital age, the right to informational self-determination had become a crucial facet of the right to personal autonomy and was protected under […]
Read more "Adverse Inference v. Civil Death"“We would like to emphasize on the vital role played by opinion of the expert which is simply a conclusion drawn from a set of facts coming to his knowledge and observation. Expert’s opinion should be demonstrative and should be supported by convincing reasons. A Court cannot be expected to surrender its own Judgment and […]
Read more "Experts IV: Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose"“On 8 October, 1997, Veerappan abducted wildlife researchers and photographers Krupakar and Senani. The next day, he stopped a bus carrying fifteen tourists through Bandipur Forest and took them hostage. The same fate was reserved for the six Karnataka Forest Department staffers who went searching for the bus. Though Veerappan set most of the tourists […]
Read more "Chasing the Brigand: The Rajkumar Abduction"The Don always sells. There is even a sweet, fan-girl account in Sheela Raval’s Godfathers of Crime (Hachette, 2015). She attended the reception of Mahrukh’s wedding in the summer of 2005 and said, “Mario Puzo would have been proud of the scene“. In Khullam Khulla: Rishi Kapoor Uncensored (HarperCollins India, 2017), the actor has his […]
Read more "D For Don II: Khullam Khulla"“An expert is one who has made a subject upon which he speaks or renders his opinion, a matter of particular study, practice or observation and has a special knowledge thereof. His knowledge must be within the recognized field of expertise and he essentially has to be qualified in that discipline of study. It has […]
Read more "Experts III: The Jayalalitha Case"On March 05, 2014 Hon’ble Justice T.S Thakur, not yet CJI, observed, “cynical Chalta Hai Attitude… more often than not costs society dearly in man-made tragedies” [(2014) 6 SCC 173]. The price of Sushil Ansal’s ‘Chalta Hai Attitude’ was pegged at Rs. 30 Crores [(2015) 10 SCC 359]. That is merely 18 Crores more than what a […]
Read more "The Advanced Age of Sushil Ansal"April, 2012 ‘Madam, I’ll tell you what I know,’ he said, pushing his spectacles up, ‘but promise me, you won’t reveal my name… King Khan’s friend D.K. in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is Anuj Tikku… He owns all first-floor-flats. There are 3 of them. His old father was murdered. I hear his paying guests […]
Read more "India’s New Serial Killers I: Vijay Palande"[The following was first published here] It is murder, if the intentional infliction of bodily injury is sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death. In February 2011, a day before her engagement ceremony, 23-year-old Soumya was injured, raped and robbed. She died a few days later, in a hospital, having never regained […]
Read more "The Exquisite Corpse of Soumya II: Law and Other Things, 05.10.2016"It was contended before SC in Vikas Yadav v. State of Uttar Pradesh, [Criminal Appeal Nos. 1531-1533 of 2015], under Section 302 of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 life is minimum and maximum is Death Sentence and therefore Court has a choice between the two and is not entitled to follow any other path. It would […]
Read more "Judge Made Law: Fixed Term Sentences I"“The sole evidence of a handwriting expert is not normally sufficient for recording a definite finding about the writing being of a certain person or not. A Court is competent to compare the disputed writing of a person with others which are admitted or proved to be his writings. It may not be safe for […]
Read more "Experts II: Handwriting Experts"“Death of the deceased was occasioned by a combination of Injury No. 1 and 2, and complications arising therefrom including aspiration of blood into the air passages resulting in Anoxic Brain Damage. The same, in the opinion of the doctor (P.W. 64), had occurred due to the fact that the deceased was kept in a […]
Read more "The Exquisite Corpse of Soumya I"
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