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  – 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...

Appeal Against Conviction – Double Murder – Sections 302 & 506 IPC – Conviction set aside – Trial court and High Court convicted the appellant for killing D-1 and D-2 with a sickle and for threatening interveners – Held: Prosecution failed to prove the case beyond reasonable doubt owing to material inconsistencies between ocular and medical evidence, non-examinati...

Criminal Law - Murder  – Eyewitness Testimony – Conviction Based on Credible Evidence – Firearms Used – The appellants were convicted under Section 302 IPC based on the consistent and reliable testimony of eyewitnesses (PWs 3 and 4), who witnessed the double murder from the rooftop of the deceased's house – Held: The courts below correctly relied on the credi...

Criminal Law - Dying Declaration – Certification by Doctor – Not Mandatory if Judicial Officer Records Declaration – Conflict in Precedents – The appellant contended that the dying declaration recorded by the Magistrate was invalid in the absence of a doctor's certificate attesting the mental fitness of the declarant – Reliance was placed on Paparambaka Rosamma v....

Criminal Law - Appeal Against Conviction For Murder And Robbery - Dying Declaration – Admissibility and Credibility – Conviction Upheld – The appellant was convicted for offences under Sections 302 and 397 IPC based primarily on oral dying declarations made by the deceased to three natural witnesses (PWs 1, 2, and 3) immediately after the incident – Held: The dying declarat...

Criminal Law - Child Rape – Conviction Restored – Sole Testimony of Prosecutrix Sufficient – The prosecutrix, a child aged 8 years, was sexually assaulted by the respondent who was aged 18 at the time – The Trial Court convicted the accused under Section 376 IPC, relying on the testimony of the prosecutrix (PW-5), her mother (PW-2), father (PW-1), and medical evidence (PW-1...

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 –...

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 – 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...