Prevention of Corruption Act – Sanction – Cognizance without valid sanction is a nullity – Fresh trial maintainable – Trials conducted without a valid sanction under Section 19 PC Act are without jurisdiction; an order of “acquittal/discharge” in such proceedings is a nullity and does not attract the bar under Section 300(1) CrPC – A proper sanction being ...
Article 136 – Scope of Interference with Concurrent Findings – Principles Reiterated – The Court restated that while powers under Article 136 are wide, interference with concurrent findings in criminal matters occurs only in exceptional circumstances where findings are perverse, improperly reached, or shock the conscience – Applied the settled tests and found the appreciati...
Criminal Law – Conviction under Section 324 IPC – Voluntarily causing hurt by knife – Conviction Upheld – The appellant was convicted by the Trial Court for assaulting PW-1 with a knife, causing incised injury on the wrist – Conviction affirmed by High Court in revision – Defence of false implication due to animosity and non-recovery of knife rejected – He...
NDPS Act – Section 50 – Search of Bag Not Equivalent to Personal Search – Non-compliance with Section 50 Not Fatal – Held that a bag, briefcase or container carried by a person is not part of the human body and does not fall within the meaning of “person” under Section 50 – Therefore, the procedural safeguards under Section 50 are not attracted when a bag ...
Murder – Sudden Fight – Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC – Not Applicable – The appellants argued that the killing occurred in a sudden quarrel without premeditation and hence fell under Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC – Held: Though the quarrel was sudden and without pre-planning, the appellants acted in a cruel and unusual manner by firing at unarmed victims with firea...
Criminal Law - Preventive Detention – Pre-execution challenge – Alka Subhash Gadia exceptions – Articles 226/32; COFEPOSA Sections 3 & 7 – Appellant sought quashing of detention order before execution citing delay and inaction, alleging order passed for a wrong purpose – Held: At pre-arrest stage, interference lies only in the five limited situations in Alka Subha...
Criminal Law - Murder – Section 302, 34 IPC – Circumstantial Evidence and Last-Seen Theory – Conviction Set Aside – The appellant was convicted for murder based on being last seen with the deceased and an extra-judicial confession – Held: Last-seen circumstance without a complete chain of evidence cannot justify conviction, particularly with time-gap between deceased ...
Juvenile Justice – Applicability of 2000 Act – Age to be Reckoned on Date of Offence – Limited Protection – Respondent was above 16 years but below 18 years on date of offence committed in 1999 and had crossed 18 before the 2000 Act came into force – Held: Age for determining juvenility must be reckoned as on date of commission of offence under the 1986 Act – 20...
Criminal – Murder — Sections 302, 376, 458, 460, 34 of IPC - Child Witness — Sole Evidence — Identification of Accused — Delay in Recording Statement — Held: Conviction based solely on testimony of child witness aged 7 years who was injured in incident is not safe in absence of corroborative evidence — Delay of three days in recording statement under Secti...
Criminal Law – Abuse of Process – Quashing of Proceedings – Bank officers encashed guarantors’ FDRs after loan default – Guarantor filed complaint under Sections 409, 422, 426 and 120B IPC alleging conspiracy and breach of trust – FIR against borrower and guarantors already lodged by bank – Held: Complaint was a counter-blast and lacked any specific allega...