Victim's Sexual History Cannot Be Used To Discredit Rape Allegation: Orissa High Court

Law doesn't permit victim-blaming, Court said.

Karnataka High Court Quashes FIR Against BJP MLA Munirathna Over Allegation Of Forcing People To Wear Party Shawl During Elections

Court noted that offence under Section 171C IPC, which deals with undue influence at elections, requires a complaint by competent authority.

'Affront To Judiciary': Jharkhand High Court Upholds Conviction In Dhanbad Judge Uttam Anand Murder Case

The Jharkhand High Court has upheld the conviction of two men for the murder of Dhanbad Additional District and Sessions Judge Uttam Anand, observing that the enormity of the act and the audacious manner of its execution constituted an “affront to the judiciary” and raised serious concerns over the safety of judicial officers. A Division Bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay and...

Karnataka High Court Rejects ₹2 Lakh Settlement In Child Drowning Case, Says His Life Can't Be Reduced To Mere Monetary Figure

Court eventually directed total compensation of ₹6.2 Lakh.

Highest Ever Death Penalties Confirmed By A High Court : Read Reasons In 2008 Ahmedabad Blast Verdict

While confirming the death penalty imposed on 38 convicts in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts case—the highest number of death sentences confirmed by a High Court in a single judgment—the Gujarat High Court held that the convicts had shown “no remorse” for their actions and displayed “scant regard for the rule of law.”Bombs went off in Ahmedabad on July 26, 2008, at various...

"Men Are Not Improved By Injuries": Chhattisgarh High Court Reduces Child Rape Convict's Sentence To 20 Years

The Chhattisgarh High Court has upheld the conviction of a man for the rape of a six-year-old girl under Section 376AB of the Indian Penal Code and Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, but reduced his sentence from imprisonment for life till natural death to rigorous imprisonment for twenty years. The Court observed that while punishment must be proportionate...

Orissa High Court Sets Aside POCSO Conviction, Orders Victim To Refund Compensation As She Turned Hostile

The Orissa High Court has recently set aside the judgment of a Special Court under the POCSO Act, which found a man guilty of committing repeated penetrative sexual assault with a minor girl, on account of lack of substantial evidence connecting the accused to the crime and even the victim turning hostile against the prosecution. [2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 79]Giving relief to the accused-appellant,...

Supreme Court Acquits Husband In Dowry Death Case, Criticises Mechanical Trial Of 17 In-Laws

The Court also warned appellate courts against causally ordering the remand of trials.

'Mere Telephone Records Can't Prove Illicit Affair' : Supreme Court Upholds Acquittal Of Woman & 2 Men In Husband's Murder Case

Mere production of telephone records cannot substitute substantive proof of an illicit affair leading to murder, the Supreme Court has held while upholding the acquittal of a woman accused of murdering her husband along with her alleged lover and another co-accused in 2007. The Court ruled that the prosecution failed to establish an unbroken chain of circumstances necessary to sustain...

Frame Murder As Main Charge, S. 304-B IPC As Alternative If 'Dowry Death' Appears Homicidal: Allahabad High Court Directs UP Courts

The Allahabad High Court has issued a mandatory direction to all the trial courts across Uttar Pradesh that if evidence collected during an investigation indicates a 'homicidal' death inside a matrimonial home, the main charge must be framed under Section 302 IPC (Murder) and an alternative charge under Section 304-B IPC (Dowry Death). A bench of Justice Salil Kumar Rai and Justice Dr...

Long Continuous Consensual Relationship Not 'Rape': Allahabad High Court Discharges Man, Notes Financial Dispute Between Parties

The Allahabad High Court recently observed that a long, continuous physical relationship between consenting adults cannot be termed 'rape' when a promise to marry fails, especially when the underlying dispute is predominantly civil and financial in nature. Allowing two connected criminal appeals, a bench of Justice Santosh Rai discharged the accused (Saurabh Pal Singh) of all...

Bombay High Court Suspends Sentence Of Mother, Alleged Paramour Convicted Of Drowning 10-Year-Old Boy In Canal

The Bombay High Court recently granted bail and suspended the lifetime rigorous imprisonment imposed on a woman and her alleged lover, both of whom were convicted for killing the woman's son as he allegedly learnt about their affair. Sitting at the Kolhapur bench, a division bench of Justice Milind Jadhav and Justice Nandesh Deshpande noted that the motive attributed to the convicts...