Criminal Law - Remission – Interpretation of Remission Notifications – Bail Periods Not Eligible – High Court's Order Reversed – The Supreme Court held that remission granted by the Government under various notifications cannot be applied to periods when the convict was on bail – Acceptance of such an interpretation would reduce the criminal justice system to a mo...
Criminal Law – Power to Grant Pardon – Sections 306 and 307 CrPC – Power Upheld – The appellants challenged the jurisdiction of the Special Court to grant pardon under CrPC, contending that such power was not expressly conferred by the Special Court Act, 1992 – Held: The Special Court is a court of original criminal jurisdiction and has all powers under CrPC not...
Dacoity – Lack of evidence of theft – Section 395 IPC – Conviction set aside – The appellants were convicted for dacoity, but the prosecution failed to establish any act of theft or attempt to commit theft – Witnesses did not personally see any items being stolen, and recovery was absent – Statements about missing ornaments were hearsay and not corroborated by d...
Criminal Law - Murder – Conviction Based on Circumstantial Evidence – Chain of Circumstances Complete – Deceased, a business broker, was found murdered and packed in a wooden container marked as a railway parcel – Appellants were last seen with the deceased and later attempted to dispatch the box containing the corpse – Additional circumstances included flight of the ...
Criminal Procedure – Power of Magistrate to Summon Persons Not Shown as Accused – Section 190 CrPC – Power Upheld – Magistrate took cognizance of offence and issued summons to respondent no. 2 who was not named as accused in the charge sheet but listed in column 2 – High Court set aside the summons citing Section 319 CrPC – Supreme Court held this was incorrect ...
Criminal Law – Murder - Criminal Conspiracy – Section 120B IPC – Scope and Ingredients – Conviction Upheld – The Court examined the agreement between multiple accused, including underworld members, for the contract killing of a former gold smuggling associate – Evidence revealed that the deceased had betrayed the main conspirator (A-1) by leaking smuggling detai...
Negotiable Instruments Act – S.138, 141 – Criminal Liability of Sick Company – BIFR Restraint Order – Recall of Summons – Appeals Allowed – [Paras 13-25]
Background – Appellant (complainant) supplied goods to respondent-company (accused), which issued multiple cheques in 2001 – Cheques dishonoured for “insufficient funds” &nd...
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...
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...
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...