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...
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 - Defamation – Section 199 Cr.P.C. – No Bar to Magistrate's Direction under Section 155(2) – Petition Dismissed - Petitioner challenged the registration of NCR and filing of chargesheet under Section 500 IPC based on the ground that defamation offences under Chapter XXI IPC can only be prosecuted by private complaint under Section 199 Cr.P.C. – Held: Sectio...
Default Bail - UAPA – Extension of Custody – Section 43D(2) – Default Bail Refused – Appellant challenged extension orders of 24.02.2024 and 26.02.2024 and rejection of default bail on 11.03.2024 – Contended that trial court acted mechanically, without individualised assessment, and that investigation was substantially complete – Held: Public Prosecutor’s ...
Criminal Law - Murder – Section 302/34 IPC – Common intention – Conviction partly upheld – Principal assailants identified by multiple eyewitnesses including injured witnesses – Court finds Moijuddin, Faijuddin and Latif restrained the deceased while Maynul delivered the fatal Ramdao blow on the nape of the neck – Held: Conviction under Section 302 read with Sec...
Murder – Sudden Quarrel – Exception 4 to Section 300 IPC – Applicability – The incident arose out of a sudden quarrel without prior enmity – Both the trial court and High Court found that the occurrence was without premeditation and fell within Exception 4 to Section 300 – Conviction altered from Section 302 to Section 304 Part I IPC – Sentence reduced to ...
Dowry Death – Conviction based on sole testimony – Deceased, married for 1½ years, died by consuming poison allegedly due to dowry harassment – Trial court convicted respondents under Sections 304B and 498A IPC relying solely on testimony of father (PW4) – High Court disbelieved PW4, noting contradictions and lack of support from other relatives (PW6, PW7) who denied...
Juvenile Justice – Determination of juvenility - Murder case – Accused Pranjal Tiwari apprehended on 27.2.1997 for offence under Section 302/34 IPC – Claimed juvenility as date of birth 30.9.1981 – Trial court and Sessions Judge rejected claim citing doubts in documents and variation in ossification test – High Court in revision accepted documentary evidence and held ...
Murder and Abduction – Sections 302, 364, 149 IPC – Conviction set aside – Prosecution alleged that appellants along with others abducted Sukhchain Singh and murdered him – Evidence of PW-7 regarding disposal of body found unreliable as identification from long distance at early hours improbable and testimony full of contradictions – High Court itself disbelieved evid...
Criminal Writ - Police Surveillance – History-Sheet – Single Case Registered in 2016 – History-Sheet Quashed – Petitioner had only one criminal case registered in 2016 under the Cow Slaughter Act – No further offence, complaint, or FIR registered – Despite this, history-sheet under Category 18-A was opened and representation for closure rejected – Held: No...