Supreme Court of India Judgements

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Category: Acquittal

Acquittal

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Section 302 – Arms Act, 1959 – Section 25 – Evidence Act, 1872 – Section 27 – Murder – Acquittal – Benefit of doubt – Evidence of recovery of the weapon at the instance of the appellant-accused cannot be accepted as reliable – It cannot be said that there was a discovery by the appellant of the place where dead bodies were kept

Feb 4, 2024 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH KRISHAN — Appellant Vs. STATE OF HARYANA — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. 2351…

Acquittal

Sole circumstance of recovery of blood-stained weapon cannot form the basis of conviction unless the same was connected with the murder of the deceased by the accused – Only on the basis of sole circumstance of recovery of blood-stained weapon, it cannot be said that the prosecution has discharged its burden of proving the case beyond reasonable doubt – Merely on the basis of suspicion, conviction would not be tenable

Feb 4, 2024 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH RAJA NAYKAR — Appellant Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. 902…

Acquittal

Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) – Section 227 – Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Sections 341, 323 and 302 – Murder – Discharge – As per post-mortem report death of the deceased was natural – No injury was found on the chest or any other part of the body of the deceased – Order of discharge upheld.

Jan 21, 2024 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH RAMALINGAM AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. N. VISWANATHAN — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S. Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No.…

Acquittal

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Section 302 read with Section 34 – Murder – Circumstantial Evidence – While the principle applicable to circumstantial evidence requires that the facts must be consistent with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused, in the present case the evidence adduced gives rise to doubts, improbabilities and inconsistencies – Conviction and sentence is set-aside – Appeal allowed.

Jan 14, 2024 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH PRADEEP KUMAR — Appellant Vs. STATE OF HARYANA — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai and Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No.…

Acquittal

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Sections 302 and 34 – Murder of wife – Circumstantial evidence – If there is a snap in the chain, the accused is entitled to benefit of doubt – If some of the circumstances in the chain can be explained by any other reasonable hypothesis, then also the accused is entitled to the benefit of doubt – Conviction and sentence is set-aside – Appeal allowed.

Jan 14, 2024 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH DARSHAN SINGH — Appellant Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB — Respondent ( Before : B. R. Gavai, Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Aravind Kumar, JJ. )…

Acquittal

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Section 302 and 149 – Murder – Acquittal – Appeal against – A sole eyewitness, happens to be the most interested witness being the father of the deceased and having long enmity with the group to which the accused persons belong, therefore, his testimony was to be examined with great caution and the High Court was justified in doing so and in doubting it so as to uphold the conviction on his solitary evidence

Dec 17, 2023 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH CHHOTE LAL — Appellant Vs. ROHTASH AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S. Oka and Pankaj Mithal, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No.…

Acquittal

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – Section 304-Part II – Culpable homicide not amounting to murder – The appellant is entitled to an acquittal as the prosecution cannot prove beyond reasonable doubt that the accusation of culpable homicide is not murder – HELD If the evidence is inseparable and attempting to separate it would destroy the prosecution’s foundation, the court can discard the entire evidence – The court must assess the evidence on record, considering the legal limits of separating the evidence and determining if the evidence is sufficient to prove guilt.

Dec 17, 2023 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH SEKARAN — Appellant Vs. THE STATE OF TAMIL NADU — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai, Dipankar Datta and Aravind Kumar, JJ. ) Criminal…

Acquittal

HELD “as the doctor has not certified that the deceased was fit enough to give a statement when Surjit Singh (PW-10) allegedly recorded her dying declaration, the same will have to be discarded. He urged that the first dying declaration has been made before Dr. Manvir Gupta (PW-13), who was the prosecution witness. He stated that the deceased disclosed to him that she herself consumed the aluminium phosphide tablets” the case made out by the prosecution is not free from doubt and, therefore, we have no hesitation in holding that the guilt of the appellant has not been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Dec 17, 2023 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SURJIT SINGH — Appellant Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S.Oka and Pankaj Mithal, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. 565…

Acquittal SC/ST

Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes(Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 – Sections 3(2)(v) and 14A(1) – – Acquittal -There must be an allegation that the accused not being a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe committed an offence under the IPC punishable for a term of 10 years or more against a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe knowing that such person belongs to such ‘community’

Dec 2, 2023 sclaw

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SHASHIKANT SHARMA AND OTHERS — Appellant Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH AND ANOTHER — Respondent ( Before : Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Sandeep Mehta,…

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POCSO

Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 — Section 4 — Section 376 (3) IPC — Rape — Conviction upheld — Evidence of victim’s mother and medical evidence — Reliability of victim’s mother’s testimony confirmed despite lengthy cross-examination, finding it natural and trustworthy and corroborated by other witnesses and medical evidence — Medical evidence, though partially presented by defense, conclusively supported sexual assault, citing perineal tear and abrasions around anus

Jun 29, 2025 sclaw
Joint Family Property Will & Succession

Hindu Succession Act, 1956 — Section 6 (as amended by Amendment Act, 2005) — Retrospective application — Validity of pre-amendment sale deeds — The prohibition contained in the amended Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, does not affect registered sale deeds executed prior to December 20, 2004 (date of introduction of the amending provision) — This principle aligns with the judgment in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma, (2020) 9 SCC 1.

Jun 28, 2025 sclaw
Anticipatory Bail Cr P C

Judicial Process — Misuse of process — Challenging bail conditions previously offered voluntarily — Accused offering substantial deposits to secure bail and subsequently challenging the onerous nature of conditions or the counsel’s authority to make such offers — This practice is condemned for undermining the judicial process and preventing consideration of bail applications on their merits — Such conduct leads to setting aside of bail orders and remittal for fresh consideration.

Jun 28, 2025 sclaw
Cr P C

Social Media Posts — Content-Related Offenses — Retaliatory Action — Quashing of Proceedings — While the court made no final determination on the nature of the petitioner’s social media posts, it acknowledged the petitioner’s counsel’s submission that the tweets were ‘retaliatory’ and were made in response to an incident involving a social media influencer. This assertion formed part of the petitioner’s argument for quashing or consolidating the numerous FIRs, suggesting a motive beyond simple offensive content.

Jun 28, 2025 sclaw