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...
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...
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...
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 ...
Criminal Law - Group Crime – Common Object – Sections 302/149 IPC – Partial Conviction Sustained – 12 accused were convicted for murder and attempt to murder arising out of a group assault – Upon close scrutiny of evidence, the Supreme Court upheld conviction of two accused (A-2 and A-3) who fired at the victims causing death and injuries – Held: Common object n...
Criminal Law - Right to Speedy Trial – Article 21 of Constitution – Judicial Guidelines Not Binding Limitations – Directions Invalid – In several corruption cases, accused were acquitted by Special Courts for non-commencement of trial within two years as per directions in Raj Deo Sharma – High Courts reversed acquittals without notice – Held: Although right to s...
Criminal Law – Murder - Circumstantial Evidence – False Defence – Section 302 IPC – Conviction Upheld – The appellant was convicted for strangulating his wife and falsely reporting her death as suicide – He admitted in his statement under Section 313 CrPC that he was present in the house at the time of incident – Medical evidence showed ligature marks inco...
Criminal Law - Cruelty – Section 498A IPC – Acquittal Under Section 306 – No Automatic Conviction Under Section 498A – Trial Court and High Court convicted the accused under Section 498A while acquitting him of abetment of suicide under Section 306 – Held: Conviction under Section 498A not sustainable in absence of evidence satisfying statutory requirements – Ex...
Criminal Law - Conviction under TADA – Bomb Blast in Train – Life Sentence – Appeal Dismissed – The appellant was convicted for multiple offences including under Sections 3 and 4 of TADA, Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC, and Section 3 of the Explosive Substances Act in relation to a bomb blast in a Mumbai local train causing 12 deaths and injuries to 65 persons –...