UAPA – Bail – Section 43D(5) – Overground Worker – Logistical Support – Long Incarceration – Appellant alleged to be a courier, messenger and overground worker of CPI (Maoist) who collected levy of Rs. 5 lakhs from a contractor on the direction of Maoist commander Ravindra Ganjhu – Cash, a letter of demand and other incriminating articles recovered from hi...
Criminal Law – Bail – Transfer of Trial – Professional Misconduct by Advocates – Violation of Fundamental Rights – Petitioners, toll plaza employees, arrested in connection with a scuffle, were denied legal representation due to violent boycott by local Bar members – Supreme Court held continued custody unjustified and violative of Article 21 – Directed im...
Criminal Law – Murder – Conviction Under Section 302 RPC – Acquittal – Appellant convicted by Trial Court for causing homicidal death of the deceased by assaulting him on the head with a gainti on 30.05.2002, allegedly on suspicion of illicit relations with the appellant's wife – Conviction based primarily on the testimony of PW-2 Shah Begum, the minor daughter of...
Criminal Law – Section 528 BNSS – Quashing of Charge-sheet – Cognizable Offence Disclosed – Application Dismissed – FIR lodged by informant (aged 73 years) alleging that Applicant No. 1 (his former driver) along with others forcibly entered his house, misbehaved with him and outraged the modesty of his daughter-in-law by tearing her clothes – Charge-sheet filed ...
Criminal Law – POCSO – SC/ST Act – Conviction – Quashing – Article 142 – Subsequent Marriage – FIR No. 129 of 2022 registered against the appellant for offences under Sections 363, 366-A and 376 IPC, Sections 3(2)(v), 3(2)(va) and 3(1)(w) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, and Sections 3 and 4 of POCSO Act – Appellant convicted by Sessions ...
Criminal Law – Withdrawal from Prosecution – Section 321 CrPC – Dismissal of State's Revision Upheld – FIR No. 53/2018 registered for offences under Sections 147, 148, 332, 333, 353, 336, 307 and 436 r/w 149 IPC and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act arising from stone-pelting by protesters during "Bharat Band" on 02.04.2018 at Raniwa...
Criminal Trial – Murder Conviction based on Dying Declaration – Reliability and Suspicion – Conviction under Section 302 IPC set aside where prosecution case collapsed due to hostile witnesses and suspicious dying declaration – Held, dying declaration must be free from suspicion and inspire confidence; in absence of corroboration and presence of serious procedural irregular...
Criminal Law – Murder – Conviction under Sections 302 and 498A IPC – Dying Declaration – Eyewitness Testimony – Conviction Upheld – Appellant-husband convicted for pouring kerosene on his wife and setting her on fire, causing 80–90% burn injuries resulting in death after three days – Trial Court acquitted the appellant on the ground that the bathroom...
Family Law – DNA Test – Paternity – Children's Rights – Divorce Petition on Desertion – Petitioner filed HMOP No. 45 of 2019 seeking divorce under Section 13(1)(ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act on the ground of desertion – During pendency, petitioner filed I.A. No. 553 of 2022 under Section 45 of the Indian Evidence Act seeking DNA testing of two children to pr...
Criminal Law – Section 319 CrPC – Summoning Additional Accused – Standard of Evidence – "Strong and Cogent" Standard – Complainant (PW-1) sought summoning of two additional persons, Rajendra and Mausam, as accused on the basis of alleged conspiracy – Trial Court rejected the application holding that evidence of PW-1, PW-6 and PW-7 was materially incons...