Cognizance of Offence – Stage of Taking Cognizance – Section 190 CrPC – Distinction between police investigation and initiation of proceedings – Held: Cognizance is taken when the Magistrate applies his judicial mind for proceeding under Chapter XV CrPC, not when issuing warrants during investigation – Magistrate in present case took cognizance only on 25th March 1949...
Article 32 Writs – Special Tribunal Convictions – Finality and Maintainability – Sections 417, 430 CrPC – Part III enforcement via habeas corpus/certiorari/prohibition – Where convictions and sentences have been affirmed by the competent appellate court prior to 26/01/1950, the principle of finality applies – Supreme Court will not, in Article 32, re-open or ind...
Criminal Law - Murder – Section 302 IPC - Appeal Against Acquittal – Presumption of Innocence Reinforced – Section 417 CrPC – Supreme Court held that in an appeal against acquittal, appellate court must accord proper weight to trial court’s judgment and should not reverse findings unless compelling reasons exist – High Court erred in reversing a detailed and rea...
Criminal Law - Merchandise Marks Act – False Trade Description – Overall Result – Company’s Conviction under Section 6 Sustained – Directors Acquitted – IPC Convictions Set Aside – The label “Anne French Cleansing Milk – 4 Old Bond St. London W1” on goods admittedly manufactured in India amounted (at least indirectly) to a description of ...
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...
Criminal writ - Preventive Detention – Article 19(1)(a) vs Article 22 – Detention Held Valid – Petitioners contended that detention for making speeches affecting public order infringed their right to free speech under Article 19(1)(a) and was therefore unconstitutional – Supreme Court reaffirmed the principle laid down in A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras that a law relating ...
Criminal Law – Murder – Bail – Circumstantial Evidence – Applicant accused of murdering the deceased by beheading him and disposing of body parts in gunny bags – FIR registered under Sections 302 and 201 IPC – Application under Section 483 BNSS for regular bail – Defence contended that recovery of body was planted, CCTV footage inconclusive, and motive unp...
Criminal Revision – Service of Notice on Foreign Entity – Section 105 CrPC – Not Mandatory – UBS Switzerland AG, de facto complainant in a criminal case involving misappropriation of pledged goods worth Rs. 55 crores, challenged the order dispensing with notice under Section 105 CrPC on ground of international reciprocity – Held: Section 105 CrPC deals with ...
Criminal Revision – Scope – Revisional jurisdiction under Section 397 CrPC is supervisory, not appellate – interference permissible only in cases of patent defect, error of jurisdiction, perversity, or non-consideration of material evidence – High Court cannot reappreciate evidence to substitute findings of fact unless perverse [Paras 13-18].
Section 498A IPC &ndas...
Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 – Section 21 read with Section 22 – Cognizance – Complaint Requirement – Charge on Police Report Quashed – Petitioner charged under Sections 379, 411 IPC and Section 21 MMDR Act read with Rule 54 JMMC Rules – Cognizance taken based on police report – Held: Section 22 MMDR Act imposes a statutory bar...