US Tourist Rape Case: Karnataka High Court Stays Proceedings Against Kodagu Homestay Owner Booked Under Repealed Foreigners Act

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday (July 7) granted an interim stay on all proceedings against the owner of a Kodagu homestay, charge sheeted for offences under the now-repealed Foreigners Act 1946, in connection with the alleged rape of US national at his premises. The single judge bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the interim order and directed that the complainant-victim who is now...

Shariat Law Allowing Marriage At Puberty Violates POCSO; Prohibition On Child Marriage Applies To All Religions: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that the Shariat/Muslim Personal Law permitting puberty as the competent age for a girl to marry runs clearly in the teeth of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, as well as the POCSO Act. A bench of Justice JJ Munir and Justice Achal Sachdev further observed that the age of marriage, for every citizen of the country, irrespective of religion,...

Contents Of FIR Inadmissible, Cannot Be Proved Through Scribe If Informant Dies Natural Death Before Testifying: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that if a first informant dies a natural death before the commencement of a criminal trial or before testifying, the contents of the FIR cannot be proved through a scribe or an investigating officer. A Bench of Justice J.J. Munir and Justice Saurabh Srivastava clarified that if an informant's death has no connection whatsoever with the complaint lodged,...

Gujarat High Court Grants Bail To Man Booked For Extorting Complainant With AI-Generated 'Defamatory Videos'

The Gujarat High Court has granted bail to a man booked for extorting the complainant by threatening of creating defamatory videos against him using Artificial Intelligence. [2026 LiveLaw (Guj) 189]It was alleged that the applicant and the co-accused persons entered into a criminal conspiracy, collected confidential information relating to the complainant and the witness, and by using...

Preventive Detention Of Person Already In Jail Vitiated If Detaining Authority Doesn't Know Case In Which He Is Incarcerated: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that an order of preventive detention passed under Section 3(1) of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988 against a person already in jail is vitiated by non-application of mind, where the Detaining Authority does not know, or wrongly knows, the case in which the detenu is in custody. It held that without...

2008 Ahmedabad Serial Blasts: Gujarat High Court Upholds Death Sentence For 38, Life Imprisonment For 11 Convicts

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday (July 7) upheld a 2022 Special Court order awarding death sentence to 38 and life imprisonment to 11 convicts in the 2008 Ahmedabad Serial Blast Case, which claimed 56 lives, PTI reported.A detailed copy of the order is awaited. The high court had in 2022 issued notice on the State's plea to confirm their death sentence. The special court had in 2022 sentenced...

No Evidence Of Aluminium Foil On Kaju Katli Being Harmful: Gujarat High Court Upholds Sweet Shop Owners' Acquittal For Adulteration

The Gujarat High Court has upheld the acquittal of sweet shop owners accused of food adulteration, after noting that in absence of any evidence that aluminium foil coating on Kaju Katli sample was injurious to health, the mere use of such foil for coating the sweet would not make it adulterated. [2026 LiveLaw (Guj) 187]Justice Hemant M Prachchhak said that the findings recorded by the trial...

S. 323 IPC | Merely Because Parties Were Enemies, Injured Witness's Testimony Can't Be Discarded: Patna High Court

The Patna High Court has held that prior enmity between parties, by itself, cannot be a ground to discard the prosecution case, particularly where the same also furnishes a plausible motive for the occurrence. Observing that the prosecution had proved the offence of voluntarily causing hurt despite failing to establish charges of attempt to murder and robbery, the Court upheld the conviction...

Rajasthan High Court Refuses Bail To 'Myanmar Nationals' Accused Of Trafficking Rohingya Girls Under Guise Of Marriage

Rajasthan High Court denied bail to three men accused of being the residents of Myanmar and illegally importing Rohingya-origin girls to India under the false pretext of solemnizing their marriage and then selling them off. The division bench of Justice Inderjeet Singh and Justice Bhuwan Goyal observed that taking into account the facts and circumstances of the case, statements of the...

Can Absconding Accused Claim Default Bail If Police Doesn't File Supplementary Chargesheet After His Arrest? MP High Court Answers

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that where a chargesheet has already been filed against an accused while he was absconding, there is no requirement for filing a supplementary chargesheet after his arrest. [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 252]The bench of Justice Dwarka Dhish Bansal while denying default bail to the accused held, "merely because the Investigating Agency sought time to conduct...

Positive DNA Report Not Sufficient To Sustain POCSO Conviction If Complainant's Age Is Not Proved: MP High Court

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has held that a conviction order under POCSO Act based merely on a positive DNA report is not sustainable, especially when the age of the complainant/prosecutrix remains unproven. [2026 LiveLaw (MP) 251]The division bench of Justice Vivek Agarwal and Justice Avanindra Singh observed that father of the prosecutrix had stated that his marriage was performed...

Immoral Trafficking Act | Safeguards Under Section 15(2) Not Mandatory For Search In Commercial Premises Like Spas: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has observed that the provisions related to search provided under Section 15(2) of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act are mandatory only if the place to be searched is a residential premises. [2026 LiveLaw (Mad) 300] As per Section 15(1), if a special police officer has reasonable grounds to believe that an offence punishable under the Act is being committed...