Stridhan is wife’s absolute property Stridhan property is essentially what is gifted to a woman before marriage, at the time of marriage or at the time of bidding of farewell or thereafter. It is an “absolute property” of a woman, in which the husband has no control over it. It does not become a joint property of the wife and the husband but he can use it in times of distress and he has a “moral obligation” to restore it or its value to his wife, says the Supreme Court (SC) in Maya Gopinath v Anoop S B [2024 INSC 334]. Wife seeks return of ornaments and the amount paid In this case, the wife i ..read more

Sanction of Centre required to try offences committed outside India When any offence involving an Indian citizen is committed outside of India, the trial should not be processed with, without the prior sanction of the Central Government under Section 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), says Telangana High Court in two Criminal Petitions No 6110 of 2022 and 6074 of 2022. The is required for proceeding with the offenses alleged in the complaint and registered under Sections 498A, 417, 406 and 506 IPC and Sections 3, 4 and 6 of Dowry Prohibition Act. But the Supreme Court (SC) says, in ..read more

No easement by necessity when alternate way exists The claimant of an easement right wouldn’t be entitled to claim the easement right by necessity when there exists an alternative way to access the claimant’s land, apart from the way over which the easement rights were claimed, the Supreme Court (SC) says in Manish Mahendra Gala v Shalini Bhagwan Avatramani [2024 INSC 293]. In other words, the easement right by necessity could be acquired only in accordance with Section 13 of the Indian Easement Act which provides that such easement right would arise if it is necessary for enjoying the Dominan ..read more

A Power of Attorney holder can depose only about the facts within his personal knowledge, but not about those facts which he himself does not know directly, or the person whom he represents alone knows, says the Supreme court (SC) in Manisha Mahendra Gala v Shalini Bhagwan Avatramani [2024 INSC 293]. In Janki Vashdeo Bhojwani v IndusInd Bank Ltd [AIR 2005 SC 439 ], the Supreme Court (SC) held that the Power of Attorney holder or the legal representative should have knowledge about the transaction in question to bring on record the truth in relation to the grievance or the offence. In A.C Naray ..read more

No property transfer occurs when seller has no title If someone tries to transfer property rights to another person through a legal document but doesn’t actually own those rights, the new owner or their successors won’t have the legal right to claim those rights from that document, says the Supreme Court in Kizhakke Vatakandiyil Madhavan (D) Thr LRS v Thiyyurkunnath Meethal Janaki [Citation : 2024 INSC 287]. No declaration needed when transferee gets no title It is apparent on the face of a deed that the conveyer did not have title over the property, then a specific declaration need not be sou ..read more

HC not to interfere when alternate remedy available The Supreme Court (SC) , in PHR Invent Educational Society v UCO Bank & Others, deprecated the High Court’s interference in the auction sale proceedings completed by the Bank, on behalf of the borrower, despite having statutory remedy of appeal under the Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (SARFAESI Act). HC set aside bank’s auction sale in a writ In this case, the borrower filed a writ petition under Article 226 of the constitution Challenging the Debt Recovery Tribunal’s ..read more

Complaint to include affidavit & documents A complaint regarding cheque dishonour, under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act (NI Act), can be filed to the Magistrate Court with an affidavit and associated documents. State that no other case has been filed The complainant must disclose in the affidavit that no other complaint has been filed in any other court. Magistrate can take cognizance on examining documents On the day of filing of the complaint, the Magistrate may scrutinize the application and documents, and if he is satisfied as to taking cognizance, he can issue process w ..read more

Suicides lead to allegations on abetment Every suicide by a wife usually ends up in allegations against her husband & his relatives, and consequent clamour for criminal action against them, irrespective of whether the suicide was abetted by them, as defined in the law, or the consequence of the hypersensitivity of the victim or not. The key provisions in regard are Section 107 & 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Section 113A of the Indian Evidence Act (IEA). Abetment of wife’s suicide within 7 years of marriage A man cannot be held guilty for abetment of suicide of his wife, u ..read more

Repudiation of insurance claim due to suppression of fact Suppression of details regarding the illness suffered by the insurance proposer/assured, the previous treatment administered to him including hospitalization, and so on, which are raised as specific queries in the proposal form of the insurance company are material facts, and in the event of any material suppression or furnishing of false information by the proposer/assured regarding the same, the Insurance Company would be entitled to repudiate the policy, says the Kerala High Court in Life Insurance Corporation v Rosamma Varkey. Insur ..read more

In equal possibilities, accused to be favoured On the basis of evidence on record in a court proceeding, if two equally sustainable views – one in favourable to the accused and the other against him – are equally possible, the court should take the one that is favourable to the accused, but not the other, says the Supreme Court (SC) in Chandrappa & Others v State of Karnataka In equal possibilities, adopt the one in favour of the accused It is well settled that where on the evidence two equal possibilities – one which goes in favour of the prosecution and the other one which benefits the a ..read more