Category: I P C

Penal Code, 1860 — Section 498A — Cruelty by husband or relatives of husband — Allegations in FIR were vague, general, and filed one year after admitted separation of the parties — No specific instances of cruelty were mentioned — Criminal proceedings are liable to be quashed. Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 — Section 482 — Quashing of FIR — Court can quash FIR if allegations, taken at face value, do not constitute any offence — Vague and general allegations of marital discord, without specific instances, do not prima facie constitute an offence under Section 498A IPC.

2025 INSC 926 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA FULL BENCH ANURAG VIJAYKUMAR GOEL Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA AND ANOTHER ( Before : B.R. Gavai, CJI., K. Vinod Chandran and N. V.…

Penal Code, 1860 — Sections 376(2), 450 — Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 — Section 4 — Sexual assault on a minor — Evidence of prosecutrix — Conviction can be based solely on the prosecutrix’s testimony if it inspires confidence — Corroboration of testimony of prosecutrix is not a requirement of law, but a guidance of prudence — Minor contractions or small discrepancies should not be a ground for throwing out the evidence of the prosecutrix.

2025 INSC 929 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH DEEPAK KUMAR SAHU Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH ( Before : Sudhanshu Dhulia and N.V. Anjaria, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. …..of…

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 302, 307, 436 — Murder, Attempt to murder, Mischief by fire or explosive substance — Appreciation of evidence — High Court reversed trial court’s conviction, finding prosecution failed to prove charges beyond doubt — Supreme Court found High Court erred in treating case as purely circumstantial and misappreciating evidence — Supreme Court held evidence, including eyewitness testimony, spot punchanama, and post-mortem reports, supported prosecution’s case of explosion, fire, burn injuries, and deaths — High Court’s assumption that no remains of bomb were found was erroneous, as explosive substance causing fire was sufficient — Supreme Court also disagreed with High Court’s view that parents would not leave children during fire, citing principle of varying human reactions under stress — Supreme Court restored trial court’s conviction for respondents Nilu Ganjhu and Mahboob Ansari

2025 INSC 942 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH THE STATE OF BIHAR NOW JHARKHAND Vs. NILU GANJHU @ NILKANT RAM GANJHU AND ANOTHER ( Before : Pankaj Mithal and…

Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302 — Murder — Circumstantial Evidence — Conviction on circumstantial evidence requires a chain of events to be fully established, consistent only with the hypothesis of guilt, conclusive in nature, excluding all other hypotheses, and leaving no reasonable ground for innocence.

2025 INSC 936 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH SHAIL KUMARI Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH ( Before : B.R.Gavai, CJI. and K. Vinod Chandran, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. 2189…

Criminal proceedings can be quashed if a civil dispute is disguised as a criminal offense, indicating an abuse of process. Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 — Cheating, Forgery, Using Forged Document — Abuse of process of law — Civil dispute disguised as criminal offence — Complaint filed after significant delay following dismissal of objections and failure to pursue civil remedies — Allegations of fabrication of will and circumvention of sale deed not prima facie made out — Continuation of proceedings would be an abuse of process and not serve ends of justice — High Court erred in refusing to quash — Order set aside and proceedings quashed.

2025 INSC 915 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH URMILA DEVI AND OTHERS Vs. BALRAM AND ANOTHER ( Before : B.V. Nagarathna and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No.…

Criminal proceedings may be quashed if cheating or criminal breach of trust elements are absent, or if civil disputes are wrongly criminalized, amounting to abuse of process.- Section 420 — Cheating — Ingredients not made out — Agreement to Sell for property was executed, but possession was not handed over as stipulated in the ATS — No fraudulent or dishonest inducement found — Criminal proceedings quashed.

2025 INSC 917 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH S.N. VIJAYALAKSHMI AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ANOTHER ( Before : Sudhanshu Dhulia and Ahsanuddin Amanullah, JJ. ) Criminal…

Penal Code, 1860 — Sections 420, 468, 471 — Cheating, Forgery, Using Forged Document — Essential Ingredients — Complaint based on a GPF nomination form from 1996 failed to establish fraudulent intent or any act attributable to the accused; it did not override statutory birth certificates, nor did it prove falsification by the accused — No evidence of dishonest inducement, wrongful gain, or loss — Allegations based on conjecture and surmises, intended to malign the accused — Continuation of proceedings amounts to abuse of process when allegations are inherently improbable and no case is made out.

2025 INSC 903 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH CHIRAG SEN AND ANOTHER ETC. Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ANOTHER ( Before : Sudhanshu Dhulia and Aravind Kumar, JJ. )…

Abkari Act, 1077 – Section 8 – Carrying 5 litres of illicit arrack – Conviction based solely on testimony of official witnesses – Delay in investigation – Testimonies of official witnesses can not be discarded simply because independent witnesses were not examined – Mere urging that delay casts a suspicion on the investigation, without any evidence being led in furtherance thereof, cannot be sustained

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH  SATHYAN — AppellantVs.STATE OF KERALA — Respondent ( Before : Abhay S. Oka and Sanjay Karol, JJ. ) Criminal Appeal No. 2363 of 2023…

Penal Code, 1860 — Sections 406 and 420 — Cheating and Criminal Breach of Trust — FIR registered based on a property dispute, with conflicting allegations between FIR and civil suit pleadings — Discrepancies in alleged sale consideration and property descriptions indicate manipulation to create a criminal case out of a civil transaction.

2025 INSC 870 SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISION BENCH MALA CHOUDHARY AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANOTHER ( Before : Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. ) Criminal…

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