Supreme Court Weekly Digest With Nominal And Subject/Statute Wise Index (June 15 - June 26, 2022)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1978; Section 438 - Anticipatory Bail - Court is expected to pass orders in one way or other taking into account the merits of the matter at the earliest - Posting an application for anticipatory bail after a couple of months cannot be appreciated - Matter involves personal liberty. Sanjay v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 555

Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; Section 220(1) - trial for more than one offence - if in one series of acts so connected together as to form the same transaction, more offences than one are committed by the same person, he may be charged with, and tried at one trial for, every such offence - it is not possible to enunciate any comprehensive formula of universal application for the purpose of determining whether two or more acts constitute the same transaction - the circumstances of a given case indicating proximity of time, unity or proximity of place, continuity of action and community of purpose or design are the factors for deciding whether certain acts form parts of the same transaction or not - a series of acts whether are so connected together as to form the same transaction is purely a question of fact to be decided on the aforesaid criteria. - for several offences to be part of the same transaction, the test which has to be applied is whether they are so related to one another in point of purpose or of cause and effect, or as principal and subsidiary, so as to result in one continuous action. [Para 20.1 - 20.3] Ms. P XXX v. State of Uttarakhand, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 554

Constitution of India, 1950; Article 20(2) - Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; Section 300 - Principle of Double Jeopardy - The accused-respondent No. 2 having gone through the trial in relation to offences under Sections 504 and 506 IPC and having been acquitted, cannot be subjected to another trial for the same charges on the same facts. Any such process would be in blatant disregard of the settled principles which disapprove double jeopardy and are precisely contained in Article 20(2) of the Constitution of India as also Section 300 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. Ms. P XXX v. State of Uttarakhand, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 554

Constitution of India, 1950; Article 22 - Preventive Detention - the powers to be exercised under this law are exceptional powers which have been given to the government for its exercise in an exceptional situation -A law and order situation can be dealt with under the ordinary law of land. (Para 12 & 13) Shaik Nazneen v. State of Telangana, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 559

Constitution of India, 1950; Article 356 - Breakdown of Constitutional machinery - Law & Order - Gujarat Riots case - Breakdown of law-and-order situation if for short duration,cannot partake the colour of breakdown of rule of law or constitutional crisis. To put it differently, misgovernance or failure to maintain law-and-order during a brief period may not be a case of failure of constitutional machinery in the context of tenets embodied in Article 356 of the Constitution-There must be credible evidence regarding State sponsored breakdown of law-and-order situation; not spontaneous or isolated instances or events of failure of State administration to control the situation. (Para 45) Zakia Ahsan Jafri v. State of Gujarat, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 558

Court-fees Act, 1870; Section 7(iv)(d) - the market value does not become decisive of suit valuation merely because an immovable property is the subject-matter of litigation - the market value of the immovable property involved in the litigation might have its relevance depending on the nature of relief claimed but, ultimately, the valuation of any particular suit has to be decided primarily with reference to the relief/reliefs claimed - It is unquestionable principle of law that a suit for mandatory and prohibitory injunction is not required to be valued at the market value of the property. [Para 9.1 & 10] Bharat Bhushan Gupta v. Pratap Narain Verma, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 552

Death Sentence - Death sentence being awarded and maintained only in extreme cases, does not mean that the matter would be approached and examined in the manner that death sentence has be avoided, even if the matter indeed calls for such a punishment - The pursuit in collecting mitigating circumstances could also not be taken up with any notion or idea that somehow, some factor be found; or if not found, be deduced anyhow so that the sentence of death be forsaken - It has never been the effort of the Courts to somehow make this punishment (sentence of death) redundant and non-existent for all practical purposes. (Para 54) Manoj Pratap Singh v. State of Rajasthan, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 557

Death Sentence - Death sentenced imposed on man for rape and murder of 8 year old mentally and physically challenged girl upheld- The crime had been of extreme depravity, which shocks the conscience, particularly looking to the target (a seven-and-a-half-year old mentally and physically challenged girl) and then, looking to the manner of committing murder, where the hapless victim's head was literally smashed, resulting in multiple injuries including fracture of frontal bone - No probability of reformation and has criminal antecedents and also involved in crimes in jail post-conviction - There is absolutely no reason to commute the sentence of death to any other sentence of lesser degree. (Para 58) Manoj Pratap Singh v. State of Rajasthan, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 557

Death Sentence -The theory of residual doubt - After the final conclusion on the guilt and after pronouncing conviction, no concept of residual doubt as such is available for the purpose of sentencing. (Para 48 - 49) Manoj Pratap Singh v. State of Rajasthan, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 557

Death Sentence - There cannot be any universal formula for calling for a psychological evaluation report to determine whether the accused could be reformed or rehabilitated. (Para 56.1) Manoj Pratap Singh v. State of Rajasthan, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 557

Gujarat Riots 2002 - Plea for probe into alleged larger conspiracy by high state functionaries dismissed- Upholds SIT's closure report exonerating Narendra Modi and 63 other high officials - Held, Conspiracy cannot be readily inferred merely on the basis of the inaction or failure of the State administration -inaction or failure of some officials of one section of the State administration cannot be the basis to infer a pre- planned criminal conspiracy by the authorities of the State Government or to term it as a State sponsored crime (violence) against the minority community. (Para 44 - 47) Zakia Ahsan Jafri v. State of Gujarat, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 558

Penal Code 1860; Section 120B - Criminal Conspiracy - To make out a case of larger criminal conspiracy, it is essential to establish a link indicative of meeting of minds of the concerned persons for commission of the crime(s). (Para 44) Zakia Ahsan Jafri v. State of Gujarat, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 558

Principle of Estoppel & Acquiescence - It is settled principle that principle of estoppel cannot override the law. The manual duly approved by the Executive Council will prevail over any such principle of estoppel or acquiescence- there can be no estoppel against law. If the law requires something to be done in a particular manner, then it must be done in that manner, and if it is not done in that manner, then it would have no existence in the eye of the law. (Para 23) Krishna Rai v. Benarus Hindu University, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 553

Public Order & Law and order - Distinction - The distinction between law and order situation and a public order situation has been dealt with by the Supreme Court in a catena of decisions. (Para 15) Shaik Nazneen v. State of Telangana, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 559

Service Law - Selection process held in violation of service rules-High Court division bench applies principle of estoppel to reject challenge - Supreme Court sets aside the HC verdict. Krishna Rai v. Benarus Hindu University, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 553

Telangana Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Dacoits, Drug-Offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Land Grabbers, Spurious Seed Offenders, Insecticide Offenders, Fertiliser Offenders, Food Adulteration Offenders, Fake Document Offenders, Scheduled Commodities Offenders, Forest Offenders, Gaming Offenders, Sexual Offenders, Explosive Substances Offenders, Arms Offenders, Cyber Crime Offenders and White Collar or Financial Offenders Act ,1986; Section 3(1) - A bare reading of the aforesaid provision shows that the "maintenance of public order" has a crucial bearing here and unless the government is justified in holding that the act of the detenu is prejudicial to the maintenance of public order, the preventive detention would be bad and would be in violation of Articles 21 and 22 of the Constitution of India as it encroaches upon the liberty and freedom of an individual. (Para 9) Shaik Nazneen v. State of Telangana, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 559

NOMINAL INDEX

1. Bharat Bhushan Gupta v. Pratap Narain Verma, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 552
2. Krishna Rai v. Benarus Hindu University, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 553
3. Manoj Pratap Singh v. State of Rajasthan, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 557
4. Ms. P XXX v. State of Uttarakhand, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 554
5. Sanjay v. State (NCT of Delhi), 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 555
6. Saud Faisal v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 556
7. Shaik Nazneen v. State of Telangana, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 559
8. Zakia Ahsan Jafri v. State of Gujarat, 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 558