Criminal Law - Review Jurisdiction – Scope and Limitations – Article 137 of the Constitution – Limited Review Permissible – The Court reiterated that review of a criminal judgment is restricted to errors apparent on the face of the record – Broader considerations such as miscarriage of justice or deprivation of fundamental rights may still permit correction – Me...
Criminal Law – Murder – Circumstantial Evidence – Conviction Upheld - Sandeep (A1) and Vikram (A3) were convicted for the murder of Vishal Goel – Prosecution proved chain of circumstances including last seen together, recovery of bloodstained sword and clothing, and matching blood group with victim – Extra-judicial confession discarded as unreliable, but conviction su...
Family Law - Maintenance – Enhancement under Section 127 Cr.P.C. – Increase Allowed – Revision Allowed – Petitioner sought enhancement of ₹10,000/month maintenance fixed in 2012 to ₹30,000/month citing increase in cost of living, medical needs, and respondent’s pension – Family Court had rejected plea stating no substantial change in circumstances – Hi...
Criminal Law – Power to Grant Pardon – Sections 306 and 307 CrPC – Power Upheld – The appellants challenged the jurisdiction of the Special Court to grant pardon under CrPC, contending that such power was not expressly conferred by the Special Court Act, 1992 – Held: The Special Court is a court of original criminal jurisdiction and has all powers under CrPC not...
Criminal Law - Murder – Absence of Corpus Delicti – Conviction Sustained – Even in the absence of recovery of the dead body, conviction under Section 302 IPC was sustained – Eye-witnesses PW 3 (mother) and PW 4 (sister) gave direct and credible evidence of fatal assault by Appellant No. 9 – Circumstantial and direct evidence led to inescapable conclusion of deat...
Murder – Reversal of Acquittal – Confession Valid and Corroborated – Appeal Allowed – Accused was acquitted by High Court in double murder case of a film actress and her mother – Supreme Court held that the judicial confession of the accused was voluntary and truthful – Corroborated by recovery of stolen articles and unexplained presence of fingerprints inside t...
Criminal Law - Murder – Concurrent Findings – Appeal Dismissed – Appellants challenged their conviction for murder on multiple grounds including plea of alibi, discrepancies in inquest and post-mortem reports, and delay in FIR – Supreme Court held that concurrent findings of fact by lower courts would not be interfered with unless perverse or in violation of legal pri...
Criminal Procedure – Power of Magistrate to Summon Persons Not Shown as Accused – Section 190 CrPC – Power Upheld – Magistrate took cognizance of offence and issued summons to respondent no. 2 who was not named as accused in the charge sheet but listed in column 2 – High Court set aside the summons citing Section 319 CrPC – Supreme Court held this was incorrect ...
Criminal Law - Murder – Conviction Based on Circumstantial Evidence – Chain of Circumstances Complete – Deceased, a business broker, was found murdered and packed in a wooden container marked as a railway parcel – Appellants were last seen with the deceased and later attempted to dispatch the box containing the corpse – Additional circumstances included flight of the ...
Dacoity – Lack of evidence of theft – Section 395 IPC – Conviction set aside – The appellants were convicted for dacoity, but the prosecution failed to establish any act of theft or attempt to commit theft – Witnesses did not personally see any items being stolen, and recovery was absent – Statements about missing ornaments were hearsay and not corroborated by d...