Criminal Law
Gujarat High Court Grants Bail To Man Accused Of Objecting To SC/ST Community Member's Invitation To Brahmin Marriage Function
The Gujarat High Court granted regular bail to a man accused of portraying complainant as a "bootlegger" and saying that a member of SC/ST community should not be invited to marriage in the Brahmin community. [2026 LiveLaw (Guj) 223]The court was hearing a man's appeal booked under Sections 3(1)(U) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 whose regular...
Every Medical Error Not Criminal Negligence: Telangana High Court Quashes FIR Against Diagnostic Staff For Issuing False Positive Report
While quashing FIR against four staff members of a diagnostic centre for issuing an allegedly false positive Hepatitis B report to a woman before her hernia surgery, the Telangana High Court said that not criminal law cannot be invoked to punish every instance of professional negligence. [2026 LiveLaw (Tel) 134]In doing so the court held that mere inadvertence, an error of judgment, or a lapse...
Allahabad High Court Acquits Husband Accused Of Setting Wife Ablaze, Rejects Dying Declaration Recorded In Presence Of Relatives
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday acquitted a man convicted of culpable homicide in connection with the burning death of his wife, observing that the dying declaration was recorded in the presence of relatives/family members and therefore could not be safely relied upon. A Bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Achal Sachdev allowed the criminal appeal filed by Jagan against...
Madras High Court Flags Systemic Gaps In POCSO Act Implementation, Including FIRs Against Minor Boys In Consensual Relationships
The Madras High Court has directed the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu to constitute committees comprising Secretaries from various departments to address the systematic gaps in the implementation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act in the State. The bench of Justice GR Swaminathan and Justice V Lakshminarayanan noted that there were correctional...
Valmiki Corporation Scam: Karnataka High Court Allows Minister B Nagendra To Travel Across India, Retains Bar On Foreign Travel
The Karnataka High Court on August 20 (Thursday) allowed a petition filed by B. Nagendra, a Cabinet Minister in the Karnataka Government, permanently relaxing a bail condition imposed on him in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) case arising out of the alleged misappropriation of funds from the Valmiki Scheduled Castes Development Corporation. [2026 LiveLaw (Kar) 311]The single...
Rajasthan High Court Stays Termination Of Govt Employee For Concealing Stayed Conviction
The Rajasthan High Court has stayed the termination of a government employee whose services were terminated over allegations that he had suppressed and concealed information relating to his criminal conviction, which had already been stayed by a coordinate bench of the Court.The bench of Justice Anuroop Singhi took note of the earlier order staying the petitioner's conviction in a criminal...
Law Department Must Not Succumb To Pressure From Other Departments: Bombay High Court Rejects Delayed State Appeal
The Department of Law and Judiciary (DLJ) must act independently and not succumb to pressure mounted by any of the other departments of a State Government, held the Bombay High Court while refusing to condone a delay of 650 days in filing appeal against acquittal in a Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act case. Sitting at the Nagpur seat, a single-judge Justice Mahendra Nerlikar also imposed a...
Motor Accident Claim | Acquittal In Criminal Case Per Se Won't Prove Lack Of Negligence : Supreme Court Explains Principles
Acquittals in Criminal Court cannot control or dictate the outcome of MACT proceedings, the Supreme Court has held, reiterating that criminal proceedings and motor accident compensation claims operate in distinct legal spheres and are governed by different standards of proof."A subsequent acquittal in a criminal case does not affect the assessment of tortious liability under the MV Act......
'Such Cases Clog Courts': Karnataka High Court's Prima Facie View On Lawyer's Complaint Alleging Attack By Senior Citizen's 10 Dogs
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday (August 18) termed 'prima facie frivolous' a criminal case against a senior citizen, which had resulted in the denial of her passport renewal, over a lawyer's complaint alleging that her 10 dogs had attacked him.Observing that such cases have clogged criminal courts and prevented regular cases from proceeding, Justice M Nagaprasanna granted the complainant...
Bombay High Court Upholds Quashing Of Process Issued Against BJP's Mangal Prabhat Lodha In 2007 Cheating Case
The Bombay High Court on Monday (August 18) upheld an order passed by Magistrate in October 2008 quashing the process issued against BJP leader and Maharashtra's Cabinet Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha in a 2007 case of alleged cheating and fraud with respect to development of certain properties in Thane district. Single-judge Justice Milind Jadhav found that the complaint filed by one...
PC Act | Recovery Of Bribe Amount Alone Insufficient Without Proof Of Demand: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (19.08.2026) has acquitted a former Talati-cum-Mantri and a Peon of a Gram Panchayat, who were convicted under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (PCA), holding that the prosecution has failed to prove the initial demand of bribe beyond reasonable doubt. It was also observed that mere recovery of a currency note from the co-accused could not sustain...