It is clear, for resting a conviction in case of circumstantial evidence, circumstances from which conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should be fully established and all facts so established should be consistent only with hypothesis of guilt. There must be a chain of evidence so complete as not to leave any reasonable ground […]
Read more "Review of Death Penalty XXIII"Dibrugarh offered a simple, uncomplicated lifestyle and we grew up in a milieu with a consistent feel-good ambience. My greatest satisfaction as a Lawyer was, help I could render to my Father outside Court when he had faced a disqualification under Tenth Schedule in 1994. P.K. Goswami, Senior Advocate, represented my Father. Amitava Roy [Retired […]
Read more "Justice Ranjan Gogoi’s Justice"24.04.2011 – Kallu Khan, riding an unnumbered motorcycle, turned back and tried to run away. Suspecting his conduct, he was apprehended and questioned. Eventually, a polythene bag, containing a brown substance resembling and confirmed to be smack, weighing 900 grams, was found in Kallu’s motorcycle. It was contended, motorcycle seized in commission of offence does […]
Read more "900 Grams of Smack"Mofil Khan v. State of Jharkhand, [Review Petition (Criminal) No. 641 of 2015 in Criminal Appeal No. 1795 of 2009] has observed, possibility of reformation and rehabilitation of convict is an important factor which has to be taken into account as a mitigating circumstance. It is also our duty to take into consideration, state of mind of […]
Read more "Review of Death Penalty XXII"Court has propounded several tests for determining reasonableness for purpose of Article 19(1)(g). These have ranged from testing restrictions for arbitrariness [Dwarka, AIR 1954 SC 224; Shree Meenakshi Mills, AIR 1974 SC 366], excessiveness [Chintaman Rao, AIR 1951 SC 118] and discerning their objective of compliance with Directive Principles of State Policy [Saghir Ahmad, (1955) […]
Read more "Proportionality in Culture of Justification I"United Nations Conference on Human Environment at Stockholm in 1972, United Nations Conference on Environment and Development known as Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 and Glasgow Climate Change Conference in 2021 have all voiced grave concerns about global environmental degradation resulting in extinction of […]
Read more "Environmental Jurisprudence II"Section 220, CrPC envisages situations when a person shall be tried for multiple offences at one trial. It now needs to be determined, if Section 220, CrPC can be applied to proceedings before a Special Court constituted under The Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. It is apparent, on combined reading of […]
Read more "The Principle, Rule, Doctrine of Implied Repeal II"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 […]
Read more "Witness Protection"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 […]
Read more "Review of Death Penalty XXI"It is settled law, Court cannot interfere with soundness and wisdom of a policy. A policy is subject to judicial review on limited grounds [Asif Hammed v. State of Jammu & Kashmir, 1989 Supp (2) SCC 364; Sitaram Sugar Co Ltd. v. Union of India, (1990) 3 SCC 223; Khoday Distilleries Ltd. v. State of […]
Read more "Unchartered Ocean of Policy Decision III / The Revival of Ray LXXVII"After Narayan Govind Gavate v. State of Maharashtra, (1977) 1 SCC 133 a ‘discordant note’ came to be struck in Pista Devi, (1986) 4 SCC 251. Chameli Singh, (1996) 2 SCC 549 proceeded to consider decisions in Gavate, Pista Devi and Rajasthan Housing Board, (1993) 2 SCC 84. Chameli Singh was not noticed in Om […]
Read more "The Revival of Ray LXXVI"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 […]
Read more "Claim of Juvenility I"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 […]
Read more "Ut Res Magis Valeat Quam Pereat"Lord Diplock in Council of Civil Service Unions v. Minister for Civil Service, [1985] AC 374; Lord Greene in Associated Provincial Picture Houses Ltd. v. Wednesbury Corp., [1947] 2 All ER 680. An administrative action is subject to judicial review on grounds of illegality, irrationality and procedural impropriety. _____ When a person takes a chance […]
Read more "Risky Participation / The Revival of Ray LXXV"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 […]
Read more "Review of Death Penalty XX"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 […]
Read more "Vicarious Liability"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 […]
Read more "Preventive Detention Statute II / The Revival of Ray LXXIV"“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 […]
Read more "The Nature of Judicial Power: Pegasus"Estragon: Let’s go. Vladimir: We can’t. Estragon: Why not? Vladimir: We’re waiting for Godot. Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot, 1954. Let us now hark back to Waiting for Godot… with which, we started. National Green Tribunal must act, if exigencies so demand, without indefinitely waiting for metaphorical Godot to knock on its portal. NGT is […]
Read more "Environmental Jurisprudence I"Perry holds dual citizenship of Kenya as well as United Kingdom. Perry flagrantly violated solemn undertakings and challenged jurisdiction of Indian Courts, despite having submitted. It is fundamental, a party approaching Court must come with clean hands, more so in child custody matters [S.P. Chengalvaraya Naidu v. Jagannath, (1994) 1 SCC 1; Indian Bank v. […]
Read more "Fraud in Child Custody"
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