Delhi High Court Frames Criminal Contempt Charges Against Advocate For Scandalizing Judge On LinkedIn After Cyber Cell Traces IP Logs Testimony Of Partially Hostile Witnesses Can Be Relied Upon If Corroborated: Delhi High Court Upholds Police Officer's Conviction Subordinate Engineers Entitled To Non-Functional Upgradation Even If Level 8 Reached Via MACP: Supreme Court FEMA Adjudicating Authority Cannot Overrule Competent Authority's Refusal To Confirm Asset Seizure: Supreme Court Candidate Cannot Claim Lower Preference Post After Securing First Choice Under Merit-Cum-Preference System: Madhya Pradesh High Court Official Cannot Escape Corruption Trial Merely Because 90% Payment Was Made Prior To His Joining: Calcutta High Court Employee Who Evades Cross-Examining Witnesses Cannot Later Claim 'No Evidence' In Departmental Enquiry: Andhra Pradesh High Court Fictitious Or Non-Genuine Revenue Entries Cannot Confer Adhivasi Rights Under UP Zamindari Abolition Act: Allahabad High Court Calcutta High Court Quashes Termination Of Compassionate Appointee Over Age Dispute, Says Such Claims Cannot Be Kept Pending Indefinitely Alleged Custodial Torture Does Not Automatically Attract Contempt Under 'D.K. Basu' Unless Specific Arrest Guidelines Are Violated: Gujarat High Court Authority Cannot Act As 'Judge In Own Cause'; Himachal Pradesh High Court Quashes Distillery License Cancellation Over Procedural Impropriety Financial Corporations Have Absolute Power To Fix Employee Pay, Prior State Govt Approval Not Required: Jharkhand High Court Custodial Interrogation Not Required For Police Inspector Accused Only Of Illegal Confinement Prior To Victim's Death: Karnataka High Court Rescission Of Contract Without Hearing Is Illegal; Courts Cannot Interfere In Second Appeal If Findings Rest On Unrebutted Evidence: Gauhati High Court RTI Penalty Proceedings Are Between Commission and SPIO Alone — Complainant Has No Right To Be Heard: Kerala High Court Catastrophic To Allow Law To Take Its Own Course: MP High Court Quashes POCSO, BNS FIR After Victim And Accused Marry No Presumption Under Section 20 PC Act Without Proof Of Demand And Acceptance: Telangana High Court Quashes Case Against Sub-Inspector Attack On Judicial Officers Is Criminal Contempt; Supreme Court Orders CBI/NIA Probe Into West Bengal Incident Prolonged Physical Relationship By Educated Woman Amounts To 'Promiscuity', Not Rape Induced By Misconception Of Fact: Punjab & Haryana High Court Father Cannot Escape Duty To Maintain Minor Children Merely Because Mother Earns Substantial Income: Uttarakhand High Court Divorced Wife Entitled To Maintenance; Mere Earning Capacity Not A Bar: Orissa High Court

"CRIMINAL LAW" Digest

Preventive Detention – Subjective Satisfaction – Validity – Detention order passed under Section 3(2) of MPDA Act against petitioner for causing public disorder and terror – Petitioner challenged order on grounds that prior offences were stale and relied upon improperly – Held: Detention based solely on two recent FIRs and two in-camera statements demonstrating habitu...

Criminal Law – Partnership Firm – Liability of Retired Partners – Cheating and Criminal Breach of Trust – Petitioners, former partners of “Malayil Financiers”, sought discharge from prosecution alleging that the offences occurred after their retirement from the firm on 30.04.1996 – Civil Court decree and Registrar of Firms’ communication produced bef...

Criminal Law – Bail after Conviction – Section 319 CrPC – Appellant not named in FIR nor chargesheeted after investigation – Later summoned under Section 319 CrPC based on testimony of PW1 and PW2 and convicted under IPC Sections 307, 149, 147, 148, and 506 – High Court rejected suspension of sentence – Supreme Court noted that appellant had initially been exone...

NDPS Act – Bail – Default Bail – Section 167(2) CrPC – Conditional Bail Improper – Petitioner arrested based on disclosure statement in a case involving 11 kg Ganja, classified as intermediate quantity – Trial Court granted default bail only till filing of FSL report – Held: It is legally unjustified to limit default bail to the filing of FSL report in cas...

Criminal Law – Abetment of Suicide – Conviction Set Aside – Appellant convicted under Section 306 IPC as mother-in-law of deceased who allegedly committed suicide nine years after marriage – Trial Court convicted appellant based on vague allegations of harassment – Held: No proximate or direct act of instigation or abetment proved against appellant – Essential i...

Criminal Law – Grievous Hurt – Murder – Section 302 vs 326 IPC – Conviction Sustained under Lesser Charge – Accused Nos. 1 to 4, armed with deadly weapons, trespassed into family property and inflicted injury on deceased’s leg during a dispute – Victim died due to profuse bleeding from a grievous leg wound – Trial court convicted under Section 326 IP...

Criminal Law – Sections 265 and 266 IPC – Applicability of Legal Metrology Act – Charges for fraudulent use and possession of false weights and measures quashed – Held: In view of Section 51 of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the Supreme Court’s decision in State of U.P. v. Aman Mittal (2019) 19 SCC 740, prosecution under IPC Sections 265 and 266 is barred where off...

Criminal Law – Quashing of FIR – Cross FIRs – Petition under Section 482 Cr. PC filed seeking quashing of cross FIR No. 389/2023 and summoning order dated 20.06.2024 – Petitioners contended that the cross FIR was retaliatory and lodged to counter their complaint (FIR No. 388/2023) arising from the same incident – Alleged contradictions and inconsistencies in the compl...

Appeal Against Acquittal – Scope of High Court’s Power – Sections 417 & 423 CrPC – Presumption of Innocence Reinforced – The High Court reversed the acquittal and convicted the accused on detailed reappraisal of evidence – Held: Though the High Court’s powers in an appeal against acquittal are as wide as in an appeal against conviction, interference is...

Criminal Law - Murder – Section 342 CrPC – Duty to Put Each Incriminating Circumstance – Trial Vitiated – At Sessions, the Judge merely read the committal examination and asked if it was correct – He did not question the accused about material circumstances emerging at trial (presence at Deohri, motive, extra-judicial confessions, dying declarations, and human blood o...