Criminal Law - Interim Release of Vehicle - Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 - Section 503 - Transportation of Cattle - Petitioner filed criminal revision challenging the order of the Gram Nyayadhikari cum JMFC Bisra rejecting his application under Section 503 of BNSS for interim release of seized vehicle - The vehicle was seized for allegedly transporting seven bullocks in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 and Rules 2017 - State opposed release on the ground that the Engine and Chassis numbers were not clearly visible and ownership could not be traced on the VAHAN portal - Petitioner produced registration certificate and insurance policy showing Insured Declared Value of Rs 865431 - Sub Inspector report noted a QR code on the engine and transport department sticker matching the vehicle registration number - High Court held that the petitioner prima facie established the identity and ownership of the vehicle - Keeping the vehicle in the open would expose it to the vagaries of nature serving no useful purpose - Held - Vehicle ordered to be released on the petitioner furnishing unencumbered property security of Rs 500000 and depositing Rs 100000 under the Rules of 2017 - [Paras 1-12].

Animal Welfare Law - Maintenance of Seized Animals - Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Care and Maintenance of Case Property Animals Rules 2017 - Rule 5 - Cost of Transport Treatment and Care of Animals - Seven bullocks were given in interim custody to a social worker due to non-availability of an authorized Gaushala - The social worker incurred an expenditure of Rs 297000 for their maintenance - Rule 5 of the 2017 Rules makes the vehicle owner jointly and severally liable for maintenance costs - High Court quantified the animal wellbeing amount to Rs 300000 and directed the petitioner to pay fifty percent thereof amounting to Rs 150000 - Held - Petitioner being vehicle owner is liable for fifty percent of the maintenance cost of animals under Rule 5 of the 2017 Rules - [Paras 8-16].

Decision: Criminal Revision allowed - Interim release of the vehicle directed subject to the petitioner furnishing unencumbered property security of Rs. 5,00,000/- and complying with directions for payment of animal maintenance costs.

Civil Law - Territorial Jurisdiction - Code of Civil Procedure 1908 - Order VII Rule 10 - Return of plaint - Suit for specific performance of agreement for sale and possession of undivided property situated in New Delhi initially filed in Bombay High Court - High Court granted leave under Clause XII of Letters Patent as part of cause of action arose in Mumbai - Plaint transferred to Bombay City Civil Court due to enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction under Bombay City Civil Court Amendment Act 2012 - Defendant applied for rejection of plaint citing bar under Section 16 of CPC - Trial Court returned plaint under Order VII Rule 10 for presentation to proper court holding it lacked territorial jurisdiction over suit for land outside Mumbai - Appellant contended that transferee court cannot review territorial jurisdiction once High Court granted leave under Clause XII - Statutory provisions clarify that under Section 4A of Bombay City Civil Court Act 1948 and Rule 3 of Transfer of Suits Rules 2012 the transferred suit must be treated as originally instituted in the transferee court - Letters Patent applies exclusively to High Court and does not protect jurisdiction of City Civil Court upon transfer - Section 16 of CPC applies with full force to City Civil Court barring it from entertaining suits for land situated outside its limits - Held - City Civil Court was justified in examining the issue of territorial jurisdiction afresh and directing return of plaint - [Paras 1-37].

Civil Law - Transfer of Suits - Bombay City Civil Court Act 1948 - Section 4A - Jurisdiction of transferee court - Effect of transfer upon enhancement of pecuniary jurisdiction - Provisions of Sections 16 17 and 20 of CPC which were inapplicable to High Court under Section 120 CPC apply with full force to the City Civil Court - Suit is treated as if originally instituted in City Civil Court - Leave granted under Clause XII of Letters Patent confers jurisdiction on High Court but does not ipso facto get transferred to City Civil Court if the transferee court inherently lacks territorial jurisdiction over the subject matter - Held - Transferee court is competent to decide the issue of jurisdiction as if the suit had been originally instituted before it - [Paras 21-27].

Civil Law - Suit for Land - Letters Patent Bombay - Clause XII - Revocation of leave - Whether trial must take full course once leave is granted - Right of defendant to seek revocation of leave or object to jurisdiction in written statement - In clear cases of lack of jurisdiction the leave granted under Clause XII can be revoked - Present suit being one for land situated in Delhi the High Court would not have retained jurisdiction and an application for revocation would have been maintainable - Trial Court rightly considered the suit as one for land and returned it for presentation to the proper Court instead of rejecting it - Held - Order of return of plaint upheld - [Paras 24-34].

Decision: Appeal dismissed - Interim Application disposed of.

Writ Law - Impleadment of Legal Representative - Special Marriage Act 1954 - Section 4 - Validity of second marriage - Petitioner claimed to be second wife of deceased defendant No 2 and sought impleadment as legal representative in a partition suit - First wife of the deceased was alive at the time of the second marriage which was solemnised under the Special Marriage Act - Trial Court rejected petitioner's impleadment application while allowing her daughter's application - High Court observed that Section 4 strictly prohibits marriage if either party has a living spouse - Petitioner admitted to being the second wife in her affidavit - Act is a secular and self-contained code and parties invoking it cannot claim exemptions under personal law - Marriage void ab initio - Petitioner cannot claim status of widow or legally wedded wife to represent the estate - Held - Trial Court did not commit any jurisdictional error - Writ petition dismissed - [Paras 1-27].

Family Law - Void Marriage - Special Marriage Act 1954 - Section 4 - Conflict with personal law - Deceased defendant was a Muslim male who contracted a second marriage under the Special Marriage Act during the subsistence of his first marriage - Contention raised that Mohammedan law permits multiple marriages - High Court held that once parties voluntarily elect to be governed by the Special Marriage Act they are bound by its mandatory conditions including monogamy - Permissibility of multiple marriages operates only within the domain of personal law and cannot override the statutory mandate of the Special Marriage Act - Marriage void from inception - Held - petitioner cannot claim legal status as wife to prosecute or defend proceedings - [Paras 19-21].

Civil Law - Representation of Estate - Special Marriage Act 1954 - Section 4 - Rights of children of void marriage - Trial Court rejected the second wife's impleadment application but allowed the daughter born from the void relationship to be brought on record - High Court noted that children born from a void marriage are entitled to statutory protection and are competent to represent legal rights in appropriate proceedings - Held - Trial Court exercised discretion judiciously and in consonance with settled principles of succession and representation of estates - [Paras 23-24].

Decision: Writ petition dismissed – Order dated 18.08.2025 passed on I.A. No. 50 in O.S. No. 246/2012 by the Trial Court affirmed – Impleadment of proposed defendant No. 2(f) remains undisturbed and Trial Court to proceed with the suit in accordance with law.

Criminal Law - Dishonour of Cheque - Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 - Section 138 - Procedural defect in recording plea - Petitioner convicted and sentenced for dishonour of cheque of rupees one lakh fifty thousand - Trial Court recorded substance of accusation under Section 251 CrPC for a completely different cheque of rupees five lakhs - Appellate Court affirmed conviction - High Court noted stark mismatch between transaction put to accused during arraignment and actual instrument under prosecution - Error constitutes a structural defect violating basic due process which cannot be treated as a curable irregularity under Section 465 CrPC - Convicting an individual for a transaction completely different from the one put to him during formal arraignment cannot be sustained - Held - Structural defect at Section 251 stage strikes at the root of the matter and invalidates concurrent judgments of conviction - Impugned sentence of imprisonment set aside - [Paras 13-18 and 24-25].

Criminal Law - Presumption of debt - Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 - Section 139 - Financial capacity of complainant - Complainant claimed to be an unemployed lady who received the loan amount from her father - Complainant failed to examine her father or produce clear documentary proof of the source of funds - Trial Court failed to put crucial circumstance regarding source of funds to petitioner during Section 313 CrPC examination - Initial statutory presumption successfully displaced by preponderance of probabilities - Significant evidentiary gap created - Held - Trial proceedings compromised from the beginning - [Paras 19-21 and 24].

Criminal Law - Financial restitution - Negotiable Instruments Act 1881 - Section 138 - Economic offence - Offence under Section 138 is intended to provide financial restitution rather than simple punishment - Petitioner complied with interim directions and deposited double the cheque amount as compensation before the Trial Court - Litigation pending for twenty years - Financial injury to complainant fully redressed making active term of imprisonment unnecessary - Subjecting parties to fresh trial would cause undue hardship - Held - Order for compensation to the tune of rupees three lakhs affirmed - Sentence of simple imprisonment set aside - Complainant granted liberty to withdraw deposited amount - Revision allowed in part - [Paras 24 and 26-30].

Decision: Criminal Revisional Application allowed in part – Sentence of six months simple imprisonment imposed on the petitioner set aside – Order for compensation of Rs. 3,00,000/- under Section 357(3) of the Code is affirmed – Opposite Party No. 2 granted absolute liberty to withdraw the entire deposited amount from the Trial Court.

Civil Law - Specific Performance - Specific Relief Act 1963 - Section 16 - Readiness and Willingness - Appellants filed counter-claims seeking specific performance of Agreements to Sell (ATS) for portions of industrial plot A-13 Wazirpur - Trial Court dismissed claims on grounds of breach and non-readiness - High Court observed that appellants stopped paying monthly instalments in February 1997 even though respondent had time until March 1998 to clear tax arrears under the ATS - Appellants failed to produce documentary evidence such as bank statements or income tax returns to prove continuous financial capacity - Pay orders prepared in 2004 were cancelled and never proved in evidence - Held - Continuous readiness and willingness is a condition precedent for specific performance - Appellants failed to prove financial capacity in continuum from date of agreement till decree - [Paras 31-70].

Civil Law - Contractual Breach - Specific Relief Act 1963 - Section 16(b) - Wilful variance - Appellants continued to misuse the property for steel fabrication business despite court directions in a writ petition to stop misuse for restoration of the perpetual lease deed - Respondent was obligated to restore the lease under a 2004 Compromise but could not do so due to the appellants ongoing misuse - Held - By continuing misuse the appellants acted in subversion of the relation intended by the contract - Conduct of the plaintiff seeking specific performance must be blemishless - [Paras 41-55].

Evidence Law - Proof of Documents - Indian Evidence Act 1872 - Sections 61 and 67 - Admission of Signatures - Respondent relied on Mutual Agreements produced during cross-examination of the appellants witness - Witness admitted signatures but did not confirm contents or execution - Held - Mere marking of an exhibit or admission of signature does not dispense with the proof of contents or execution of a document - Execution means signing after understanding the contents with the intention to be bound - Trial Court erred in relying on unproved documents but the ultimate conclusion on dismissal of suit remains valid due to other established breaches - [Paras 73-80].

Civil Law - Statutory Interpretation - Specific Relief Act 1963 - Section 16 - Retrospective Effect - Transactions occurred in 1995 and 2004 - Specific Relief (Amendment) Act 2018 - Held - The 2018 Amendment is prospective in nature and inapplicable to transactions that took place prior to the amendment - Unamended Section 16 of the SRA applies to the present case - [Paras 32-34].

Decision: Appeals dismissed - Common judgment and decree passed by the Trial Court affirmed.

Civil Law - Power of Attorney - Indian Contract Act 1872 - Sections 201 and 208 - Termination of agency on death of principal - Plaintiffs executed General Power of Attorney in favor of Defendant No 1 - Plaintiff No 2 died in July 2010 - Defendant No 1 executed a registered Gift Deed of the suit property in favor of his son and daughter-in-law in January 2011 - Trial Court dismissed the suit seeking cancellation of the Gift Deed holding the act was protected under Section 208 as the agent claimed ignorance of the principal death - High Court reversed the Trial Court findings - High Court held that agency terminates automatically on the death of the principal under Section 201 - A dead person cannot be a party to a contract - The power to represent ceases to exist upon death - Section 208 cannot confer validity on the presentation of a deed for registration on behalf of a dead principal - Held - Registered Gift Deed executed post demise of the principal is void ab initio - Trial Court judgment quashed - [Paras 12-20].

Civil Law - Interpretation of Deed - Powers of Attorney Act 1882 - Section 3 - Act of agent beyond assigned powers - Power of Attorney document authorized agent to manage and sell property for consideration but contained no specific clause permitting execution of a gift deed - Defendant No 1 gifted property to his own family members without consideration - Power of Attorney must be construed strictly and general words cannot enlarge restricted powers - Held - Execution of Gift Deed was an unauthorized act beyond the powers vested in the agent depriving appellants of legitimate rights - Gift deed is illegal and has no leg to stand in the eyes of law - [Paras 21-26].

Civil Law - Registration of Document - Registration Act 1908 - Section 32 - Defective presentation - Agent presented Gift Deed for registration after death of one principal - Law requires person presenting document to fulfill character of an agent - Held - Presentation defective as authority stood terminated by operation of law - Cannot be cured by pleading ignorance - [Paras 17-19].

Decision: Appeal allowed – Trial Court judgment quashed and set aside – Registered Gift Deed dated 05/01/2011 held void ab initio and suit decreed.

Criminal Law - Quashing of FIR - Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 - Sections 316(5) and 318(4) - Petitioners were Master Franchise Agents for ATM cash loading services - Allegations of misappropriating Rs. 30,95,700 by failing to load the full cash amount withdrawn from banks into designated ATMs - Petitioners argued that the dispute arose from commercial agreements dated 12.08.2024 and 31.12.2025 which contained an arbitration clause - Contended that criminal proceedings were being used as a substitute for civil recovery - Court observed that the FIR prima facie disclosed dishonest misappropriation and wrongful gain to petitioners - Held - Existence of an arbitration clause or the pendency of civil proceedings does not oust the jurisdiction of criminal courts if the facts constitute a criminal offense - Writ petition dismissed - [Paras 1-27].

Criminal Law - Concurrent Remedies - Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 - Sections 316(5) and 318(4) - Civil and Criminal Liability - Dispute involving breach of contract and embezzlement - Petitioners claimed the matter was purely contractual - Court relied on Kathyayini Vs. Sidharth P.S. Reddy and Trisuns Chemical Industry v. Rajesh Aggarwal - Held - Criminal law and civil law can run side by side as the two remedies are not mutually exclusive but coextensive - An arbitration clause enables adjudication of civil consequences but does not prevent criminal prosecution for acts constituting an offense - [Paras 16-23].

Criminal Law - Multiple FIRs - Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 - Sections 316(5) and 318(4) - Registration of multiple FIRs - Petitioners challenged the FIR on the ground that another FIR (No. 46) had been lodged for the same cause of action - Court perused both FIRs and found they related to different ATM machines at different locations and different misappropriated amounts - Held - Registration of separate FIRs for distinct incidents at different locations involving different set of facts is permissible - [Paras 24-25].

Decision: Writ Petition dismissed – Quashing of FIR No. 253 of 2026 refused – Interim relief denied.

Civil Law - Pre-emption - Punjab Pre-emption Act 1913 - Section 15 - Right of co-sharer - Plaintiffs filed suit for possession by way of pre-emption claiming to be co-sharers in joint holding - Defendants contended joint holding was already partitioned and 1995 amendment extinguished pre-emption right - Trial Court decreed suit holding plaintiffs as co-sharers and sale being of undivided share - First Appellate Court affirmed decree noting partition proceedings were set aside by Financial Commissioner - High Court upheld concurrent findings stating plaintiffs acquired share prior to partition application and were never impleaded - Law determining pre-emption is law prevailing on date of sale - Decrees validly passed by courts of first instance before 1995 amendment are not defeated by subsequent legislation unless expressly retrospective - Held - Plaintiffs continued to possess status of co-sharers - 1995 Amendment does not affect maintainability of suit - Appeal dismissed - [Para refs not available].

Civil Law - Limitation - Limitation Act 1963 - Article 97 - Starting point for pre-emption suit - Defendants claimed limitation commenced from date of execution of sale deed and physical possession - Vendors held only undivided share in joint khewat - Sale was transfer of undivided share which does not admit of physical exclusive possession - Second limb of Article 97 applies - Limitation commences from date of registration of sale deed - Suit instituted within one year from date of registration - Held - Suit is well within period of limitation - [Para refs not available].

Property Law - Partition - Punjab Land Revenue Act 1887 - Section 123 - Validity of private partition - Defendants alleged prior private family partition divesting plaintiffs of co-sharer status - No procedure followed for affirmation of private partition by Revenue Officer - Separate possession or cultivation of portion of joint holding does not establish partition in eye of law - Held - Co-sharer remains owner of every inch of joint holding until lawful partition recognised by law - [Para refs not available].

Decision: Appeal dismissed – Trial Court judgement and decree dated 05.08.1991 and First appellate Court judgement and decree dated 07.03.1995 upheld – Pending applications stand disposed off.

Criminal Law - Murder - Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 302 - Appellants convicted for murder based on circumstantial evidence - Trial Court relied on last seen theory and recovery of weapon - High Court found prosecution theory weak as key witnesses turned hostile and deceased did not mention appellants during telephonic conversation prior to death - Recovery of weapon made from an open place after nine days creating serious doubt - Medical evidence did not corroborate disclosure statements regarding deceased being pushed off a bridge - Chain of circumstantial evidence remained incomplete - Held - Trial Court erred in treating conjectures as conclusive findings without substantive evidence - Appeals allowed and conviction set aside - [Paras 5-38].

Evidence Law - Circumstantial Evidence - Indian Evidence Act 1872 - Section 27 - Recovery of weapon - Lathi allegedly recovered at the instance of the appellant from an open place after a lapse of nine days from the date of incident - Earlier search at the same spot did not yield the weapon - Evidence suggested weapon might have been kept at the police station and not actually produced by the appellant - Held - Recovery suffers from serious infirmities and raises serious doubt regarding prosecution story - [Paras 14-36].

Criminal Law - Standard of Proof - Indian Evidence Act 1872 - Section 3 - Circumstantial Evidence - Fundamental principle that before a court records a conviction the accused must be and not merely may be guilty - Mental distance between may be and must be is long and divides vague conjectures from sure conclusions - Prosecution failed to establish a complete chain of circumstances to conclusively prove the guilt of the accused - Held - Mere conjectures cannot be elevated to the status of conclusions - [Paras 32-34].

Decision: Appeals allowed - Impugned judgment dated 14.8.2021 passed by Sessions Judge Dindori set aside - Appellant Dayalu @ Mukesh is on bail and his bail bonds are discharged - Appellant Rajesh directed to be set at liberty forthwith if not required in any other case.