Criminal Procedure – Section 167(2) CrPC – Default Bail – Cognizance under TOHO – Appellants arrested in connection with organ transplant racket – CBI filed complaint under Section 22 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 – Appellants claimed entitlement to statutory bail as no chargesheet (police report) was filed within 90 days – Held: CBI, th...
Criminal Law - Section 302, 120B, 294, 307, 323, 34, 341, 353, 370, 380, 394, 397, 457, 506B of the IPC - Murder of Trade Union Leader – Circumstantial Evidence Against Industrialists Inadequate – Acquittal Upheld – Deceased, a labour rights leader, was allegedly murdered by conspiracy among local industrialists and hired killers – Trial court convicted A-1 to A-5 and A-9 b...
Criminal Law - Murder – Section 302, 34 IPC – Circumstantial Evidence and Last-Seen Theory – Conviction Set Aside – The appellant was convicted for murder based on being last seen with the deceased and an extra-judicial confession – Held: Last-seen circumstance without a complete chain of evidence cannot justify conviction, particularly with time-gap between deceased ...
Criminal Law – Quashing of FIR - Medical Negligence – Criminal Liability – IPC Section 304A – Civil vs. Criminal Standard – FIR alleged death of patient due to empty oxygen cylinder and negligence of doctors – Issue: whether such facts make out offence under Section 304A IPC – Held: For criminal liability, negligence must be “gross” or of a ver...
Criminal Law – Dowry Death – Presumption under Section 113B Evidence Act – Marriage Date Dispute – Appellant convicted under Sections 304B and 498A IPC for causing death of wife by burns – Trial Court held marriage occurred in 1987 and drew presumption of dowry death – Supreme Court held marriage likely occurred in 1983 as per voter list evidence, making Section...
Criminal Law – Abetment of Suicide – Ingredients – Suicide by business associate allegedly due to mental harassment and coercion in connection with profit-sharing – Suicide note blamed appellant and others for pressuring deceased – Trial court framed charge under Section 306 read with Section 34 IPC – Supreme Court held that for abetment under Section 107 IPC, i...
Criminal Law – Attempt to Murder – Acquittal under Section 307 IPC – Conviction under Section 324 IPC – Appeal by the State against acquittal of accused No.1 (Jaison) under Section 307 IPC and of accused Nos. 2 and 3 (Biju and Mohanan) under Sections 341, 324, 307 r/w 34 IPC – Trial Court convicted accused No.1 under Section 324 IPC and sentenced him to two years&rsqu...
Criminal Law - Preventive Detention – Pre-execution challenge – Alka Subhash Gadia exceptions – Articles 226/32; COFEPOSA Sections 3 & 7 – Appellant sought quashing of detention order before execution citing delay and inaction, alleging order passed for a wrong purpose – Held: At pre-arrest stage, interference lies only in the five limited situations in Alka Subha...
Criminal Law – Abetment of Suicide – Section 306 IPC – Husband convicted for abetting wife’s suicide and mother-in-law convicted under Section 498A IPC – Wife consumed poison at her parental home – Allegation only that husband told wife not to put sindoor of his name on her head – No other evidence of cruelty or instigation – Held: Mere utterance wit...
Criminal – Murder — Sections 302, 376, 458, 460, 34 of IPC - Child Witness — Sole Evidence — Identification of Accused — Delay in Recording Statement — Held: Conviction based solely on testimony of child witness aged 7 years who was injured in incident is not safe in absence of corroborative evidence — Delay of three days in recording statement under Secti...