Category: Acquittal

Murder—Death Penalty—The conduct of the convict in prison cannot be lost sight of and is a relevant mitigating factor Duty of Court—It is duty of Court to be constitutionally correct even when its view is counter-majoritarian  the public opinion Murder—Death Sentence—Possibility of Reform—Probability and possibility of reform of a criminal can be done properly only through psychological/psychiatric evaluation–Media Trial-It has almost become a trend for the investigating agency to present their version and create a cloud in the collective conscience of the society regarding the crime and the criminal

2018(4) Law Herald (SC) 3078 : 2018 LawHerald.Org 1858 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before Hon’ble Mr. Justice Deepak Gupta Hon’ble Mr. Justice Hemant Gupta Criminal Appeal No(S). 1482-1483…

Murder—Death Sentence—Minor girl raped and murdered—Appellant had no criminal antecedents prior to commission of this crime and his post incarceration conduct suggests the possibility of his reform—Death sentence commuted to life sentence–Though the crime committed of an abominable nature but it cannot be said to be such a brutal, depraved heinous or diabolical nature so as to fall into the category of the rarest of rare cases

2018(4) Law Herald (SC) 3372 : 2018 LawHerald.Org 1943 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before Hon’ble Mr. Justice N.V. Ramana Hon’ble Mr. Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar Hon’ble Mr. Justice…

Common Intention –Unless a common intention is established as a matter of necessary inference from the proven circumstances, the accused person will be liable for their individual acts and not for the act done by any other person.Appeal against conviction–Appellant acquitted by trial Court–High Court convicted the appellant–Held, if two reasonable views are possible on the basis of the evidence on record and one favourable to the accused has been taken by the trial court, it ought not to be disturbed by appellate Court–

2009(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 175 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta The Hon’ble Mr. Justice B. Sudershan Reddy Criminal Appeal No. 1657…

Criminal Law –Murder–Circumstantial evidence–Last seen theory–Deceased last seen with accused–Held, The last-seen theory, furthermore, comes into play where the time gap between the point of time when the accused and the deceased were last seen alive and the deceased is found dead is so small that possibility of any person other than the accused being the author of the crime becomes impossible

2009(1) LAW HERALD (SC) 161 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dr. Arijit Pasayat The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dr. Mukundakam Sharma Criminal Appeal No.598-599 of…

Indian Penal Code, 1860, S.302–Murder–Material Contradictions-Acquittal- -Inconsistent version between the evidence of Investigation Officer and father of deceased with regard to recovery of material objects and also in identification of those material objects—Acquittal upheld. 

2018(4) Law Herald (SC) 2911 : 2018 LawHerald.org 1760 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Before Hon’ble Mrs. Justice R. Banumathi Hon’ble Mr. Justice Vineet Saran Criminal Appeal No. 1133-1135…

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“Husband Has No Right On Wife’s Stridhan” Matrimonial Law – The appeal concerns a matrimonial dispute involving misappropriation of gold jewellery and monetary gifts – The appellant, a widow, married the first respondent, a divorcee, and alleged misappropriation of her jewelry and money by the respondents – The core issue is whether the appellant established the misappropriation of her gold jewellery by the respondents and if the High Court erred in its judgment – The appellant claimed that her jewellery was taken under the pretext of safekeeping on her wedding night and misappropriated by the respondents to settle their financial liabilities – The respondents denied the allegations, stating no dowry was demanded and that the appellant had custody of her jewellery, which she took to her paternal home six days after the marriage – The Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s judgment, upheld the Family Court’s decree, and awarded the appellant Rs. 25,00,000 as compensation for her misappropriated stridhan – The Court found the High Court’s approach legally unsustainable, criticizing it for demanding a criminal standard of proof and basing findings on assumptions not supported by evidence – The Court emphasized the civil standard of proof as the balance of probabilities and noted that the appellant’s claim for return of stridhan does not require proof of acquisition – The Supreme Court concluded that the appellant had established a more probable case and directed the first respondent to pay the compensation within six months, with a 6% interest per annum in case of default.