Trial Court Not Bound To Incorporate Questions Suggested By Prosecution Or Accused Under Section 313(5) CrPC: Orissa High Court

The Orissa High Court has held that it is not mandatory, rather discretionary for a trial Court to seek help of prosecution and defence for preparing relevant questions which are to be put to the accused under Section 313(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) for eliciting his explanation to the inculpatory circumstances appearing against him in the evidence. [2026 LiveLaw...

Compulsory Retirement For 22-Day Unauthorised Absence Disproportionate: Orissa High Court Grants Relief To Disabled Railway Employee

The Orissa High Court has ordered 50% back wages along with retiral benefits to a disabled former railway employee who was compulsorily retired from service in 2012 for proceeding on an unsanctioned leave of “twenty-two and half days” to attend her ailing mother. [2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 74]Finding the punishment to be severely disproportionate to the alleged indiscipline, the Division Bench...

Seashore Chit Fund Scam: Orissa High Court Refuses To Quash Proceedings Against Ex-BJD MLA Pravat Ranjan Biswal

The Orissa High Court has declined to quash the impending criminal prosecution against the Biju Janata Dal's (BJD) former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Cuttack-Choudwar constituency Pravat Ranjan Biswal for his alleged links with the Seashore Group of Companies. [2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 75]For context, the Seashore Group of Companies floated a major ponzi scheme which duped...

S. 311 CrPC | Court Can't Refuse To Examine Witness Merely Because He Is A 'Surrendered Maoist': Orissa High Court

The Orissa High Court has held that a trial Court cannot decline to summon a witness, under Section 311 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC), to examine and record his testimony merely on the ground that he has previously been a Maoist. [2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 72]While setting aside the trial Court order denying to summon a surrendered Maoist as a witness, the Bench Dr. Justice...

Orissa High Court Refuses To Quash FIR Against Doctor Accused Of Helping Husband Cheat Women Through Sham Marriages

The Orissa High Court has recently denied to quash criminal case against a doctor-wife accused of being an accomplice to her husband in inducing multiple women to illegally enter into marriage with the latter in order to exploit them financially.Noting that a charge-sheet has already been submitted in the case, the Bench of Dr. Justice Sanjeeb Kumar Panigrahi was not inclined to grant any...

S.31 CrPC/ S.25 BNSS | Court Can't Order Consecutive Sentences For Offences Committed In 'Single Transaction': Orissa High Court

The Orissa High Court has held that a Court, while convicting and imposing punishment on an accused for commission of more than one offence, cannot order respective sentences to run consecutively if the offences are committed in a 'single transaction'.Reiterating the Apex Court ruling in O.M. Cherian alias Thankachan v. State of Kerala & Ors. (2014), the Bench of Justice V. Narasingh...

'Population Explosion More Dangerous Than Hydrogen Bomb': Orissa High Court Upholds Disqualification For Having More Than Two Children

“Population explosion is more dangerous than hydrogen bomb,” the Orissa High Court quoted British Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell as it upheld a Single Bench order affirming the disqualification of the President of a cooperative society for breaching the “two-child policy”.While denying relief to the appellant, the Division Bench of Justice Dixit Krishna Shripad and Justice...

Employee Can't Be Terminated For Non-Disclosure Of Criminal Case Without Proof They Knew About It: Orissa HC

A Division Bench of the Orissa High Court comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Murahari Sri Raman held that suppression of information in a verification form must be of a 'material' fact, and penal action is not warranted if the candidate lacked knowledge of the criminal case, especially where the case was trivial or ended in acquittal. Background Facts The...

'Complete Apathy': Concerned By Police Treatment Of Juvenile, Orissa High Court Registers PIL Over 'Rampant Violation' Of JJ Act

Taking a grim view of the police administration's handling of a minor inside a police station, the Orissa High Court recently converted a habeas corpus writ petition into a regular Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to comprehensively tackle the “rampant violation and/or implementation” of various provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act concerning children. A Bench of...

'State Can't Indefinitely Extract Work Through Temporary Posts': Orissa High Court Orders Regularization Of Pharmacist Terminated After 14 Yrs Service

The Orissa High Court has recently held that the State cannot abruptly and arbitrarily remove a person holding a non-sanctioned temporary post, on the ground of contractual nature of her service or financial and administrative constraints for regularization, after extracting regular work from her for decades. [2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 66]While upholding a Single Bench order which granted relief to...

Can Production Warrant Override A Subsisting 'No Coercive Action' Order? Orissa High Court Answers

The Orissa High Court has held that a 'production warrant' under Section 267 of the Code Criminal Procedure (CrPC) cannot be issued against an accused, violating an interim protection order of the higher Court, merely because he is already lodged in the judicial custody in connection with another case. [2026 LiveLaw (Ori) 65]While setting aside production warrant and subsequent police...

'Wife Can't Be Treated As Chattel': Orissa High Court Imposes ₹50K Costs On Husband For Filing Habeas Corpus Plea In Matrimonial Dispute

The Orissa High Court has recently dismissed a writ petition in the nature habeas corpus filed by a husband and imposed an exemplary cost of rupees fifty thousand on him for litigating to secure custody of his wife, who had left matrimonial home out of her own volition due to marital disharmony.Terming the case to be a “classical example” of husband pressurizing wife of conjugal union...