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 – 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 - 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 - 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...

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 - 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 - Revision Against Acquittal – Section 401(3) CrPC – High Court Exceeded Jurisdiction – Trial Court acquitted appellants of charges under Sections 302 and 302/114 IPC – State appeal dismissed as barred by limitation – Informant’s revision allowed by High Court which set aside acquittal and ordered retrial – Held: Impermissible – Sub-sect...

Quadruple Homicide – Sections 302, 302/34, 302/109 IPC & Section 27 Arms Act – Convictions Affirmed; Death Sentences Commuted – In a family land-dispute shooting, four persons (brother, sister-in-law, daughter, son-in-law) were killed – Trial Court awarded death to all three accused; High Court maintained convictions, commuted father’s sentence to life and affirme...

Criminal Law – Culpable Homicide Not Amounting to Murder – Conviction – Accused No. 2 to 6 convicted under Sections 147, 323/149, 342, 304(ii)/149 IPC – Trial Court sentenced them to various terms including 7 years RI under Section 304(ii)/149 IPC – High Court found that the prosecution proved the unlawful assembly and assault that led to the death of the victim Ram R...