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Criminal Law — Conviction based on Circumstantial Evidence — Appreciation of Evidence — Principles Governing Circumstantial Evidence — A conviction based entirely on circumstantial evidence must satisfy five conditions: (1) Circumstances must be fully established; (2) Facts established must be consistent only with the hypothesis of guilt; (3) Circumstances must be conclusive in nature and tendency; (4) They must exclude every possible hypothesis except guilt; (5) Chain of evidence must be complete, leaving no reasonable ground for any conclusion consistent with the accused’s innocence. (Para 22) Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 2002 — Section 103 — Cooperative societies functioning immediately before reorganisation of States — Object and scope of ‘deemed conversion’ — Section 103 does not automatically convert a cooperative society registered under a State Act into a multi-State cooperative society merely due to State reorganisation (e.g., bifurcation of Uttar Pradesh into Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand) — The conversion under Section 103 depends on whether the ‘objects’ of the society extend to more than one State, not merely on the statutory restructuring of the territory — Where the objects of a society remain confined to only one State after reorganisation, it continues to be governed by the applicable State Cooperative Societies Act. (Paras 9, 11, 15A, 15B, 15C, 12.18, 12.19, 14) Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 304-B and 498-A) — Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (DPA, 1961) — Sections 3 and 4 — Dowry Death — Appeal against acquittal — Setting aside High Court’s acquittal and restoring Trial Court’s conviction — Essential ingredients of Section 304-B IPC established by consistent prosecution evidence regarding dowry demand (motorcycle, TV, and cash) and continuous harassment — “Soon before death” liberally construed to emphasize nexus between death and dowry-related cruelty — Evidence of witnesses, even with minor inconsistencies, held reliable and sufficient to prove guilt; minor contradictions or use of words like ‘happily’ by witnesses do not discredit the substratum of the prosecution case proving continuous dowry harassment leading to death. (Paras 1, 14.1, 16.1, 16.2, 17, 18, 20, 22) Electricity Law — Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) — Commercial Operation Date (COD) — Firm Power vs. Infirm Power — Payment of Fixed Charges — Applicability of Regulations — Dispute regarding whether power supplied by generating company (respondent) to distribution licensee (appellant) during the relevant period (29.10.2005 to 30.06.2006) should be treated as “firm power” entitling the respondent to fixed charges, or “infirm power” entitling only variable charges — TNERC and APTEL concurrently found in favour of the generating company, holding the power supply was firm power — Supreme Court upheld the finding that continuous power supply from the gas turbine open cycle during the relevant period was “firm power” as per electricity regulations, notwithstanding the PPA’s definition of COD tied to the combined cycle project completion. (Paras 2, 29, 31, 37) Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 — Inherent powers of High Court to quash FIR — Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 — Allegations against former Minister (Chairman of Regularisation Committee) regarding illegal land allotments to non-eligible persons — Principles for quashing FIR reiterated, including where institution and continuance of proceedings amount to abuse of process of court or securing ends of justice, or where proceedings are manifestly attended with mala fide (Bhajanlal guidelines) — High Court should follow steps outlined in Rajiv Thapar vs. Madan Lal Kapoor to determine veracity of quashing prayer. (Paras 12, 12, I-III)

BSF constable fired from rifle in self defence – Right of private self defence would be available to the appellant keeping in mind preponderance of probabilities that leans in favour of the appellant – where he was suddenly confronted by a group of intruders, who had come menacingly close to him, were armed with weapons and ready to launch an assault on him, he was left with no other option but to save his life by firing at them

SUPREME COURT OF INDIA DIVISON BENCH EX. CT. MAHADEV — Appellant Vs. THE DIRECTOR GENERAL, BOARDER SECURITY FORCE AND OTHERS — Respondent ( Before : B.R. Gavai and Hima Kohli,…

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