Criminal Law - Constitution of India, Article 142 - Condonation of Delay - Jail Appeals - High Court dismissed a criminal appeal involving a life sentence on the ground of a 3157-day delay - Held, the High Court ought to have taken a practical and sympathetic view considering the appeal was filed through jail and the petitioner had already undergone significant incarceration. Given that the petiti...
Criminal Law – Murder – Section 302/149 IPC – Unlawful Assembly – Common Object – Six accused appellants armed with rifles, axes, spears and knives arrived at the residence of deceased Pushpraj alias Pushpendra on the night of 01.07.2007 at 10:00 PM, threatened him for pursuing a case against appellant Krishna Pal, dragged him out and mercilessly assaulted him with th...
Negotiable Instruments Act – Section 138 – Dishonour of Cheque – Revision – Concurrent Findings – Scope of Revisional Jurisdiction – Revisionist-convict challenged concurrent conviction and sentence upheld by both trial court and appellate court — Trial court sentenced revisionist to imprisonment till rising of court with compensation of Rs.7,40,000/- incl...
Criminal Law - SFIO Complaint – Companies Act – Bonds Under Section 91 BNSS – Physical Presence – Petitioner was summoned as accused in a complaint filed by SFIO against 81 persons in connection with alleged fraud in 88 companies of SRS Group, wherein loans of Rs.528 crores were obtained from banks/financial institutions on the basis of false financial statements – Pe...
Negotiable Instruments Act – Section 138 – Dishonour on Ground of Signature Mismatch – Whether Offence – Appellant supplied chemicals to respondent-company and 117 post-dated cheques issued by the company's authorised signatories were dishonoured by the bank on the ground that drawers' signatures were incomplete, no image was found, or signatures did not match &ndas...
Criminal Law - Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Section 384 - Interpretation of Phrase - Before rising of the Court on the same day - Petitioners contended that cognizance taken at 7:30 p.m. was beyond regular court hours and thus without jurisdiction - Held, a Court is not a time-clock institution; the expression "before rising of the Court" refers to the actual sitting and adj...
Maintenance – Section 125 CrPC – 'Wife' – Liberal Construction – Prior Subsisting Marriage – Respondent-wife married petitioner on 26.05.2009 — soon thereafter subjected to cruelty and assault — shifted to mother's house — filed maintenance petition as she had no means of sustenance — Petitioner challenged maintenance on ground that...
Maintenance – Section 125 CrPC – Interim Maintenance – Educated Wife – Qualification vs. Actual Employment – Petitioner challenged the interim maintenance order contending that Opposite Party No.1-wife holds M.A. and B.Ed. degrees, had been provisionally selected as Sikhya Sahayaka, and is thus qualified to earn – Family Court had found that despite the claim, n...
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, Section 528 - Inherent Powers of High Court - Maintainability vs. Alternative Remedy - Preliminary objection by State that petitioner has alternative remedy of seeking discharge before Trial Court. Held, existence of alternative remedy is not an absolute bar to the exercise of jurisdiction under Section 528 BNSS if continuation of proceedings amounts to an...
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, Section 483 - Bail - NDPS Act - Custodial necessity - Petitioner arrayed as an accomplice based on information from co-accused Jawan Singh - No recovery of contraband effected from the petitioner - Co-accused and other similarly placed persons already granted bail by a Coordinate Bench - Investigation complete and charge sheet filed - Held, looking at the period...