Criminal Law – Duty of Appellate Court – Sections 325, 326, 34 IPC – Appeal Allowed; Remand Ordered – Appellants convicted under Sections 326, 325 read with Section 34 IPC – High Court dismissed their criminal appeal with a brief order stating that there was no error in trial court findings, without discussing prosecution or defence evidence – Held: In a crimina...
Murder – Conviction – Evidence – Medical evidence vs. ocular testimony – Where medical evidence runs counter to the eye-witness version, the prosecution case becomes doubtful – Ocular testimony of related/ interested witnesses requires strict scrutiny, particularly when corroboration from medical/ scientific evidence is absent – Held: Prosecution failed to estab...
Criminal Law - Quashing of Proceedings – Section 482 CrPC – Scope – Power is exceptional and to be exercised sparingly – High Court erred in quashing charge-sheet by assessing sufficiency of evidence as if conducting a trial – At stage of cognizance/framing of charge, court not to weigh evidence but only see whether allegations prima facie disclose commission of offen...
Rape – Acquittal Reversed – Section 376 IPC – Conviction Restored – The accused were convicted by the trial court based on the credible testimony of the prosecutrix and corroborating medical and forensic evidence – High Court acquitted them on speculative and unsustainable grounds, disbelieving the prosecutrix without sufficient basis – Supreme Court held the ac...
Constitutional Law - Minority Rights – Scope of Article 30(1) – Clarification Sought – Eleven-Judge Bench Formulated Questions – The Full Bench was constituted to reconsider and clarify issues arising out of earlier rulings in St. Stephen’s College and Unni Krishnan cases – The Bench framed eleven comprehensive questions involving the definition of minorities, t...
Criminal Law – Reversal of Acquittal – Sections 302/149 IPC – Conviction Upheld – Trial court acquitted the accused invoking right of private defence under Section 100 IPC – High Court reversed the acquittal and convicted the accused after finding their claim of self-defence unsustainable – Supreme Court held the High Court rightly reappreciated the evidence and...
Criminal Law – TADA Confession, Conspiracy & Death Penalty – Sections 15 TADA, 120B IPC, Articles 72/161, CrPC Sections 432–433A – Majority (Pasayat, Agrawal, JJ.) upheld conviction based on a voluntary Section 15 confession of the maker without need of corroboration, affirmed findings on conspiracy and confirmed death sentence applying the ‘rarest of rare&r...
Quashing of FIR - Public Servant – Definition under PC Act vs. IPC – Section 2(c) PC Act – Not Section 21 IPC – High Court quashed FIR relying on Section 21 IPC and Laljit Rajshi Shah (decided under the 1947 Act) – Held – The 1988 Act contains a self-contained and wider definition in Section 2(c); coverage includes persons in service or pay of a government...
Essential Commodities – Delegated Legislation – Validity of Gujarat State Order of 1981 – Appellants challenged the State Order of 1981 and subsequent notification restricting stock limits for edible oilseeds and edible oils, contending repugnancy with Central Order of 1977 which had deleted those items in 1997. Held: State Order of 1981 was validly issued under Section 3 read wi...
Criminal Trial – Communal clash – Right of private defence – Occurrence arose when group of deceased and others attacked appellant’s house following earlier quarrel – Deceased stabbed by appellant; co-accused sustained injuries from prosecution party – Trial Court convicted appellant under Section 302 IPC, upheld by High Court – Supreme Court held: Even ac...