Patna High Court: 50 Important Decisions Of 2021

As we step into 2022, LiveLaw brings to you a bunch of important Cases from the Patna High Court. This digest includes 50 important orders and judgments, spread across 8 different heads.Criminal Cases 1. Rape Victim's Identity Shouldn't Be Indicated Unless Such Disclosure Becomes Imperative For Which Reasons Are To Be Given: Patna High Court [Nagendra Kumar v. State of Bihar] A Bench of Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh directed all courts subordinate to ensure that the identity of the rape victim is not indicated in Orders/Judgment, unless such disclosure becomes imperative, for the reasons recorded in writing by the special courts. The Court took into account Section 228-A of IPC and Section 24 of POCSO to stress that identification of a child, in conflict with law or a child in need of care and protection or a child victim or a witness of a crime involved in such matters, should not be disclosed. 2. Rapist Degrades Very Soul Of Helpless Female: Patna High Court Affirms Conviction Of Man For Raping Minor [Ahtesham Khan v. State of Bihar] "Rape is not merely a physical assault, it is often destructive of the whole personality of the victim. A murderer destroys the physical body of his victim, a rapist degrades the very soul of the helpless female" observed a single judge bench comprising of Justice Birendra Kumar while affirming the conviction of a man found guilty of raping a 14-year-old minor girl. The Bench further went ahead to observe that if the record of the case in its totality discloses that the prosecutrix does not have strong motive to falsely implicate the person charged, the Court should ordinarily have no hesitation in accepting her evidence as "no self-respecting women would come forward to make a self-humiliating statement in a casual manner." 3. "Admittedly There Was No Test Identification Parade": Patna High Court Acquits All 13 Accused In 1999 Senari Massacre Case [State of Bihar v. Bachesh Kumar Singh & Ors.] A division bench comprising of Justice Ashwani Kumar Singh and Justice Arvind Srivastava acquitted all 13 accused persons in connection with 1999 Senari Massacre case killing 34 persons after observing that the circumstances in which the Test Identification Parade was conducted makes it "weak and without any corroboration". It set aside the trial court judgment dated November 15, 2016 and the sentencing order against accused persons thereby directing all 13 of them to be released forthwith. Observing that the identification of the accused persons bythe witnesses cannot be relied upon to convict them, the Court ordered thus: "The miscreants have been identified in the dock for the first time more than seven years and extendedup to about 16 years after the occurrence. The circumstances inwhich the identifications were made, as discussed above, makesuch identification rather weak without any corroboration. Thedock identification was based on recollection of the events,which took place long back." 4. Patna High Court Refuses Anticipatory Bail To Men Who Allegedly Posted Vulgar Photos of Goddess Saraswati On Social Media [Ravi Kumar & Ors. v. The State of Bihar] The Court has denied anticipatory bail to two men alleged to have taken and circulated vulgar photographs with an idol of Goddess Saraswati. The petitioner was seeking bail apprehending arrest under an FIR registered under Sections 153(A) [promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony], 506 [criminal intimidation] read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and 67 [publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form] of Information Technology Act, 2000. 5. 'Glaring Inconsistencies': Patna High Court Acquits Man On Death Row For Failure Of IO To Inspect Crime Scene, Delayed Filing Of FIR [Balwant Singh and Ors. v. State of Bihar] The Court acquitted a man sentenced to death for allegedly raping and killing a 16 year old girl in Bhojpur district, Bihar. The Court also set aside the conviction of two others who had been awarded life imprisonment by the Sessions Court in the same case. The division Bench of Justice Ashwani Kumar Singh and Justice Arvind Srivastava observed glaring inconsistencies in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses and also noted that the investigating authorities had not bothered to visit the scene of the crime. 6. The Evidence Of Approximate Age Of Prosecutrix Cannot Take The Place Of Proof Of Exact Age: Patna High Court Acquits Accused In POCSO Case The evidence of approximate age of the prosecutrix cannot take the place of proof of exact age, the High Court observed while acquitting an accused in a POCSO case. Arjun, the accused, was found guilty of rape of a girl aged about 13 years. He was convicted by the Trial Court of offences under Sections 366A and 376...

Patna High Court: 50 Important Decisions Of 2021

Sparsh Upadhyay

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