Tweet Supreme Court: In an appeal, the division bench of Abhay S. Oka* and Rajesh Bindal, JJ., allowed an appeal against the order of life-time sentence to the accused by the Trial Court for offence punishable under Section 302 of Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) and modified the sentence to a fixed-term period of 30 years. The appeal before the Court was limited to the modification of the awarded sentence by the Trial Court for the offence punishable under Section 302, IPC. In the matter at hand, the accused, a driver of the company wherein the deceased woman was working, had raped and murdered her an ..read more

Tweet Supreme Court: In a murder case, where the Madhya Pradesh High Court had reduced the sentence to sentence already undergone which was less than imprisonment for life, the bench of MR Shah* and Krishna Murari, JJ has held that such order is contrary to Section 302 IPC as there cannot be any sentence/punishment less than imprisonment for life, if an accused is convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 IPC. In the case at hand, though the High Court had maintained the conviction of the accused for the offence under Sections 147, 148, 323 and 302/34 of the IPC, it had reduced th ..read more

Tweet Supreme Court: In a case where it was argued before the bench of Dr. DY Chandrachud* and Surya Kant, JJ that in case the trial is conducted by the ordinary criminal court and not a court-martial under the Army Act, the accused would not be able to avail the benefit of being awarded a lower punishment under the Army Act, 1950, the Court has held, “If that was the intent of the legislature – that is to protect persons subject to the Army Act by awarding them lesser punishment even for serious offences – then the Act would not have provided for concurrent jurisdiction of court-martial and ..read more

Tweet Supreme Court: In a case where a Pakistan national was convicted under the NDPS Act by two Courts in two different trials and it was argued that the sentences should run concurrently, the bench of MR Shah* and BV Nagarathna, JJ has held that the offences under the NDPS Act are very serious in nature and against the society at large, hence, no discretion under Section 427 CrPC shall be exercised in favour of such accused who is indulging into the offence under the NDPS . Factual background In the case that dates back to 1999, the appellant – accused was convicted by two different courts i ..read more

Tweet Bombay High Court: Pained to note the permitting of questions by the Lower Court which crossed all lines of dignity of a woman, Division Bench of Sadhana S. Jadhav and Sarang V. Kotwal, JJ., while denying reducing the sentence of the 3 accused who raped a woman, expressed regarding sentencing policy that, “…object of sentencing policy should be to see that the crime does not go unpunished and the victim of crime as also the society has the satisfaction that justice has been done to it.” “Sentencing Policy adopted by the Courts, in such cases, ought to have a stricter yardstick so as to ..read more

Tweet Punjab and Haryana High Court: Sudhir Mittal, J., while addressing an issue with regard to the dishonour of cheque held that, “Offence under Section 138 NI Act is quasi-criminal in nature and it is not an offence against society, hence an accused can escape punishment by settling with the complainant.” Revision petitioner issued a cheque to the complainant–respondent 1 which was dishonored.  On the dishonour of cheque, the complainant sent a notice demanding payment of the cheque amount but no response was received. In view of the above, he filed a complaint under Section 138 of t ..read more

Tweet Supreme Court: In a big development, the bench of Sanjay Kishan Kaul* and MM Sundresh, JJ has directed that the infamous gangster/terrorist Abu Salem be released after the completion of 25 years of his sentence in terms of the national commitment as well as the principle based on comity of courts. Salem was convicted on 12.10.2005. Crucial Facts to understand the decision Abu Salem needs no introduction as he has a history of serious crimes. He has been a part of the crime syndicate and has been tried and convicted for offences under Sections 302, 307, 452, 506(ii) read with Section 120 ..read more

Tweet Supreme Court: Allowing the review petition in the 34-year-old road-rage case involving cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu that resulted into the death of one 65-yer-old Gurnam Singh, the bench of AM Khanwilkar and Sanjay Kishan Kaul, JJ has imposed a sentence of one-year rigorous imprisonment on Sidhu in addition to the fine of Rs.1,000/- imposed in the order dated 15.05.2018. In 1988, Sidhu got into a fight with the deceased over his right to way at a traffic light in Patiala. Sidhu had pulled the deceased out of his vehicle and inflicted fist blows. The incident eventually ..read more

Tweet Supreme Court: In a case where a man had brutally raped and murdered a 7-year-old girl, the 3-judge bench of AM Khanwilkar, Dinesh Maheshwari* and CT Ravikumar, JJ has reversed the concurrent findings of the Courts below and has commuted the death sentence into that of imprisonment for life, with the stipulation that the appellant shall not be entitled to premature release or remission before undergoing actual imprisonment for a period of 30 years. The Court observed, “The heinous nature of crime like that of present one, in brutal rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl child, definit ..read more

Tweet Supreme Court: In a case where a 65-year-old man committed aggravated penetrative sexual assault on his 4-year-old neighbor, the bench of MR Shah* and BV Nagarathna, JJ has observed that any act of sexual assault or sexual harassment to the children should be viewed very seriously and all such offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment on the children have to be dealt with in a stringent manner and no leniency should be shown to a person who has committed the offence under the POCSO Act. “Children are precious human resources of our country; they are the country’s future. The hope of ..read more