Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 302 , Section 120-B

Murder and criminal conspiracy - Trial Court convicted - High Court acquittal - Appeal - FIR - Husband Chatra died after falling - Another complaint by PW.2 along with PW.1 - daughter of deceased aged about 8 years stating - Both respondents-accused had murdered Chatra - Deposition of a child witness may require corroboration - Case his deposition inspires confidence - No embellishment or improvement therein - Court may rely upon his evidence - Post mortem - Cause of death - `Asphyxia' as a result of throttling - Statement of PW-1/child witness - Affirmed by statements of other witnesses - Proved circumstances and medical evidence - Her deposition being precise, concise, specific and vivid without any improvement or embroidery is worth acceptance in toto - Judgment of High Court set aside - Order of trial Court restored - appeal allowed.

Found In:  Topic Index, Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 120-B , Section 302 , Section 201 , Section 404 , Section 414 , Section 457 , Section 460 , Section 34 , The Arms Act,1959  - Section 4 , Section 25

Criminal conspiracy, murder - Causing disappearance of evidence, robbery with common intention - Conviction and sentence - appellants trespassed the house of deceased by night - Looted and decamped with looted ornaments of silver and gold, cash and other articles - Murder weapon 'Jharbad' - Recovered from A-3 - Trial Court convicted all the 3 - Sentence A-3 to death - Awarded life imprisonment to other 2 accused - High Court - Confirmed sentences - Appeal - prosecution proved case against A-3 - Involved in robbery - Clear from the human blood detected on his clothes - Murder weapon recovered at his instance - A-3 found in possession of huge amount of gold - In form of ornaments ingots and cash for which no explanation - Four gold bangles were identified by A-4 - Seized from A-2 - Chain was identified by him seized from A-1-Ornaments correctly identified - A-1 also found in possession of - Stolen property immediately after the theft - Directly connected with crime - His shirt and shoes were stained with human blood - No explanation - Also no explanation about huge amount of silver ornaments with him - Supreme Court - Merely because - Recoveries from the same place - Already visited by police - Would not dispel evidence of discovery and recovery - Conviction of 3 accused/appellants confirmed - Not clear from the evidence - Who was the actual author of injuries on deceased - No definite evidence about the acts - Each accused - Death sentence to A-3 modified to life imprisonment - Appeals dismissed.

Found In:  Topic Index, Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 120-B , Section 467 , Section 468 , Section 471 , Section 420 , Prevention of Corruption Act,1988  - Section 5 (2)

Conviction and sentence - Challenge - State Government found that the appellant entered into criminal conspiracy with the co-accused and prepared false muster roll no. 146 in which names of casual labourers, who were not engaged, inserted - From the evidences of prosecution witnesses, it is evident that the muster roll was verified by the appellant - The muster roll has been exhibited which bears the signature of the appellant - At no point of time, the appellant ever complained about the mal-functioning of the Assistant-Engineer, the co-accused - Also, he never raised any objection about the alleged coercion and threat by the co-accused - Sentence awarded to the appellant not interfered - Appeal dismissed.

Found In:  Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 324 , Section 326 , Section 328 , Section 201

Abkari Act - Sections 57A(1)(ii), 55(h) & (i), 58 - Adulteration of liquor or intoxicating drug with noxious substances, etc - Conviction and sentence - Prosecution alleged - Conspiracy hatched -Mixing poisonous methyl spirit - Death of 31 persons 266 persons suffered grievous injuries while 5 persons lost their eye sight completely - Accused not offered any evidence to discharge burden put against under section 57A (1) (v) - Prosecution clearly proved -Noxious substance which was likely to endanger the human life and that substance was mixed, permitted to be mixed and was being regularly mixed with liquor - The persons mixing had the knowledge that methanol was a dangerous substance and it is proved that as a result of mixing of methanol with the liquor and as a result of consuming such liquor as many as 31 persons lost their lives and number of others suffered grievous injuries - No question about the absence of conspiracy - PW-53 gave a complete graphic description of the occurrence and his evidence was not shaken in any manner in his cross-examination - Medical certificates as also the post-mortem reports have been meticulously dealt with the evidence of the witness proving such certificates as also the evidence of the doctors - No instance of inadmissible evidence having been accepted or some material evidence having been ignored by the Courts below - Conviction orders confirmed - Appeals disposed.
Abkari Act - Section 57A (1)(ii) - If, as a result of act of mixing of the liquor with noxious or dangerous substance death is caused, the extreme penalty of death also is provided.

Found In:  Judgement

Constitution of India, 1950  - Section 32

Writ petition - Directing CBI - Register a First Information Report and investigate - Fake encounter killing her son - After filing of charge-sheet by State agency - Court is precluded - Appointing other agency like CBI - Go into same issues - Earlier investigation not done per established procedure - No - Whether a case for entrusting investigation to CBI - Yes - Investigation revealed - Fake encounter - Done in order to eliminate him - Key witness in criminal conspiracy abduction and killing by powerful and influential accused persons - Definite case of CBI - Abduction and their subsequent murders -One series of acts - Two parts of same transaction - Investigated and prosecuted by different agencies, may cause failure of justice - Analysis showed several lacuna - Involvement of police officials - Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, - Supreme Court directed - Police Authorities of Gujarat State - Handover all records to CBI for further investigation - Relating to killing - Writ petition allowed.

Found In:  Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 377 , Section 109 , Section 323 , Section 120-B , Section 372 , Section 373 , Juvenile Justice (Care And Protection of Children) Act, 2000  - Section 23

Trial court - Conviction and sentence - High Court - Acquittal - Appeals - Whether High Court justified acquitting all accused - No - Investigation into sexual and physical abuse of children at Anchorage Shelters - Information shows at relevant time - A1 and A2, sexually abused children at shelter homes - Perusal of entire testimony of PWs - Other materials - Cannot be claimed - Prosecution has not established all charges levelled against accused - Ingredients of Section 377 have not been proved - Impugned judgment of High Court acquitting all accused set aside - Conviction and sentence by trial Judge restored - Appeals allowed.

Found In:  Judgement

Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987  - Section 14

Application cross-examined of respondent - Allowed - Designate Court directing - Evidence collected before 31st December 1997 in the Bombay Blast Case (BBC) No.1 of 1993 could not be used against him unless the witnesses already examined were allowed to be cross-examined by the respondent - Appeal - Blast took place in 1993 - Trial of the accused, including the respondent - Yet not been completed - Series of applications have been filed - Followed by appeals - At the instance of the aggrieved parties - Directions issued - Appeals disposed.

Found In:  Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 120-B , Section 409 , Prevention of Corruption Act,1988  - Section 5 (1) ,  (2)

Acquittal - Appeal against - Idamalayar Hydro Electric Power Project, a multi-purpose power project in Kerala was conceived and completed in the year 1985. During the trial run, several leaks and cracks were noticed in the tunnel lining - Commissioner of Enquiry concluded - Materials placed before it - Prima facie disclosed commission of offences - Punishable under I.P.C. and P.C Act - Special Court found A1, A3 and A6 guilty - Offences punishable under Section 120-B and 409 IPC and Sections 5(1)(c) and 5(2) of the P.C. Act read with Section 120-B of IPC- convicted accordingly - High Court - Acquitted - Appeal - Supreme Court - High Court failed to consider materials - Placed by prosecution - Order of High Court set aside -Special Court restored-A-1, A-3 and A-6 - Awarded RI for 1 year with fine of Rs.1,000/- - Appeal allowed.

Found In:  Judgement

Indian Penal Code,1860  - Section 302 , Section 34 , Section 120-B , Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, 1987  - Section 3

Confession - Bombay Bomb Blasts Case - Conviction under - Appeal against - Admissibility of confession against co-accused not charged under the TADA Act - -Main accused entered into criminal conspiracy to kill the deceased so that their involvement in the Bombay Bomb Blasts not revealed - When independent evidence supports the confessional statement, there is no harm in relying upon the confession - Merely because the confessional statement of both the accused is more or less similar, it cannot vitiate the probative value of such confessional statement - The confessional statement made by a person under Section 15 shall be admissible in the trial of a co-accused for offence committed and tried in the same case together with the accused who makes the confession - Evidence on record presents an unimpeachable evidence against the accused, clearly indicating the modus operandi and the motive - Designated Judge (TADA) justified in convicting and sentencing co accused for the offences under Section 302/34 IPC - Intention of the accused was not to cause terror but to prevent information regarding another crime from being divulged - TADA Court justified in dismissing the charges framed under the TADA Act - Appeals dismissed.

Found In:  Judgement

Indian Penal Code, 1860  - Section 120-B , Section 201 , Section 302 , Section 364-A , The Indian Evidence Act, 1872  - Section 25 , Section 27

Murder - Kidnapping for ransom - Conviction - Death sentence - A school going boy kidnapped for ransom and murdered - Sessions Judge Identifying the case in the category of the "rarest of the rare" - Conviction of accused for offences punishable u/ss. 302, 364A, 201 and 120-B IPC and sentenced them to death - Death sentence confirmed by HC - Direct evidence of kidnapping deceased - All three accused-appellant committed offence of murder in a pre-planned manner by using scientific methods - Fatal dozes of chemicals injected in the body of deceased in order to ensure that the offence was not detected and they were not fastened with criminal liability - Deceased the only son of his parents - Death sentence confirmed - Order accordingly.

Found In:  Judgement