Criminal Law – Quashing Sanction for Investigation – Requirement under Section 17A PC Act – Applicability to Court Orders – Judicial Dilemma Deferred - The petition involved challenge to FIRs and proceedings initiated without prior sanction under Section 17A, post-amendment of the PC Act in 2018 – Held: Whether a Magistrate’s direction under Section 156(3) CrPC ...
Criminal Law - Civil Dispute – Not Criminal – Petition for FIR Quashed – No Case for Cheating - Petitioner sought action against uncles who allegedly sold property in Solan despite prior relinquishment in family settlement – Court found the dispute to be civil in nature, not amounting to criminal fraud or misrepresentation – Held: No ingredients of Section 415 IPC mad...
Criminal Law - Maintainability of Complaint – Complaint by Mother-in-law under DV Act – Legally Permissible - The applicants argued that a mother-in-law is not competent to file an application under Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act – Held: An aggrieved woman includes any woman in a domestic relationship, and a mother-in-law can file complaint if she has lived in a shared h...
Criminal Law - Quashing - Trademark Infringement – Criminal Complaint Post-Termination of Agreement – Allegation of Counterfeit Product Supply – Cognizable Offences Made Out –
Petitioners challenged issuance of process in a criminal complaint alleging use of complainant’s trademark ‘Hydris’ post termination of distributorship in 2013 – Alleged su...
Criminal Procedure – Quashing FIR – Co-Accused’s Statement – Premature to Interfere – Applicant named in liquor seizure case solely based on co-accused’s statement – Held: Statement under Section 10 of Evidence Act relevant during investigation though inadmissible at trial – At FIR stage, admissibility not determinative – Court cannot scuttle i...
Criminal Law – Rape - Acquittal Appeal – Scope of Appellate Interference in Acquittal – Appellate Court Reiterated Limited Scope to Interfere – The appellate court while re-appreciating the evidence must interfere only when the judgment is perverse or leads to miscarriage of justice – Court found that trial court's judgment was not perverse and based on sound appr...
Regular Bail – Murder - Delay in Trial – Prolonged Incarceration – Bail Granted – Petitioner in custody for over 6 years with only 2 out of 17 witnesses examined since framing of charges in 2021 – Trial likely to take a long time – Held: Continued detention without substantial trial progress violates Article 21 rights – Bail granted subject to conditions [...
Criminal Law – Quashing - Section 138 and 141, Negotiable Instruments Act - Vicarious Liability – Director Not in Management – Complaint Quashed - Petitioner challenged proceedings under Section 138 NI Act, asserting he was neither a Director nor signatory to the cheques of the accused company – Produced Ministry of Corporate Affairs record confirming he was never part of t...
Anticipatory Bail – Theft of Judicial File – Disclosure Statement by Co-Accused – Bail Granted - FIR was filed alleging theft of a judicial file involving multiple co-accused – Appellant was not named in FIR but implicated through co-accused's disclosure – High Court denied anticipatory bail – Supreme Court noted appellant had joined investigation and that t...
Criminal Law – Bail - PMLA – Sanction under Section 197 CrPC – Cognizance Quashed – Bail Granted - The appellant, a retired civil servant, challenged his arrest under Section 3 of the PMLA citing that cognizance was wrongly taken without sanction as required under Section 197 CrPC – High Court quashed cognizance for lack of sanction – Supreme Court noted that no...