Section 217 CrPC Not A Mere Formality; Trial Court Must Judicially Decide Plea To Recall Witnesses Upon Alteration Of Charges: Madras High Court First Appellate Court Must Address Suspicious Circumstances Surrounding Execution Of Will; Adverse Inference To Be Drawn If Propounder Fails To Testify: Himachal Pradesh High Court Passing Contrary Orders On Identical Land Acquisition Cases Violates Public Policy, Equal Treatment: Madhya Pradesh High Court Municipal Authorities Cannot Adjudicate Title Disputes While Granting Building Permissions: Telangana High Court Statutory Insurance Companies Can’t Be Treated As Illiterate Litigants; Procedural Red Tape No Ground To Condone Delay: Orissa High Court Section 22 Hindu Succession Act Applies To Agricultural Land; Right Of Pre-Emption Is An Incident Of Succession: Supreme Court Proceedings Under Senior Citizens Act Extinguish On Death Of Applicant, Civil Remedies Apply For Property Disputes: Punjab & Haryana High Court Being A Woman Not A Ground For Bail In Heinous Crimes Against Minors: Gujarat High Court Rejects Bail In Flesh Trade Case Woman Not Entitled To Maintenance Under Section 125 CrPC If First Marriage Subsists; Illegitimate Child Entitled: Allahabad High Court Contract Workers Performing Same Duties As Regular Staff Entitled To Minimum Regular Pay Scale Under CLRA Rules: Bombay High Court Power Of Review Is To Correct Mistakes, Not Substitute Views Or Act As 'Appeal In Disguise': Kerala High Court Futile Exercise Of Jurisdiction To Proceed With Contempt For Violating Ex-Parte Order Once It Is Vacated On Merits: Karnataka High Court Threat To Force Wife Into Prostitution Strikes At Core Of Human Dignity: Gujarat HC Denies Anticipatory Bail In Abetment To Suicide Case Injured Victim's Testimony Carries Built-In Guarantee Of Truthfulness, Requires No Corroboration For Conviction: Allahabad High Court Section 138 NI Act Offence Can Be Compounded At Revision Stage Under Section 147 Read With Section 320 CrPC: Punjab & Haryana High Court

"CRIMINAL LAW" Digest

Criminal Law - Quashing of Proceedings – Section 482 CrPC – Scope – Power is exceptional and to be exercised sparingly – High Court erred in quashing charge-sheet by assessing sufficiency of evidence as if conducting a trial – At stage of cognizance/framing of charge, court not to weigh evidence but only see whether allegations prima facie disclose commission of offen...

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...

Rape – Acquittal Reversed – Section 376 IPC – Conviction Restored – The accused were convicted by the trial court based on the credible testimony of the prosecutrix and corroborating medical and forensic evidence – High Court acquitted them on speculative and unsustainable grounds, disbelieving the prosecutrix without sufficient basis – Supreme Court held the ac...

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...

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...

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...

Quashing of FIR  - Public Servant – Definition under PC Act vs. IPC – Section 2(c) PC Act – Not Section 21 IPC – High Court quashed FIR relying on Section 21 IPC and Laljit Rajshi Shah (decided under the 1947 Act) – Held – The 1988 Act contains a self-contained and wider definition in Section 2(c); coverage includes persons in service or pay of a government...

Essential Commodities – Delegated Legislation – Validity of Gujarat State Order of 1981 – Appellants challenged the State Order of 1981 and subsequent notification restricting stock limits for edible oilseeds and edible oils, contending repugnancy with Central Order of 1977 which had deleted those items in 1997. Held: State Order of 1981 was validly issued under Section 3 read wi...

Criminal Law - Murder  – Sections 300 Exception 4, 304 Part I, 149 IPC – Article 136 – The High Court set aside the co-accuseds’ convictions under Sections 302/149 etc., finding no common object, and maintained the appellant Sukhbir Singh’s conviction under Section 302 – Held by Supreme Court: No common object under Section 149 was proved – Occurrence...

Criminal Law – Quashing of FIR - Prevention of Corruption – Repeal and Re-enactment – Saving of Notifications – Sections 30(2) PC Act, 1988 and Sections 6, 24 General Clauses Act – FIRs registered after 9.9.1988 were investigated by Inspectors of Police authorised under notifications issued under Section 5A(1) of the 1947 Act – High Court quashed proceedings hol...