The Delhi High Court has dismissed Ankit Kumar Singh’s plea to quash an FIR and POCSO proceedings, holding that the victim’s present choice, their September 2025 marriage and their child cannot retrospectively supply legal consent to sexual intercourse during her minority, and leaving him free to approach the Supreme Court under Article 142.
The Allahabad High Court has refused to quash dowry death proceedings against a mother-in-law, holding that a post-mortem opinion of death by myocardial infarction does not by itself establish a natural death where cruelty and dowry demand are alleged soon before it; whether the medical condition was induced is a matter for trial.
The Karnataka High Court has refused to quash an FIR alleging cheating and criminal conspiracy over Rs 21.35 lakh said to have been paid to resolve pending property litigation, holding that a plea that the dispute is civil does not by itself end a criminal case, and directing a proper and in-depth investigation.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that a petition under Section 528 BNSS against a Sessions Court’s revisional order operates within an extraordinarily constricted domain and can amount to a disguised second revision, dismissing a challenge to an order directing delivery of about 514 kanals of land in Kaithal to a samadh.
The Bombay High Court has quashed an FIR in a commercial cheating dispute that the parties had fully settled, but imposed costs of Rs 25,000 on the applicant, holding that criminal law cannot be used as a bargaining chip or a recovery mechanism for private settlements. Setting the criminal machinery in motion, only to seek consent quashing later, wastes public and judicial resources, the Court said, and costs in such ‘consent quashing’ matters serve as a deterrent.
The Allahabad High Court has questioned an Azamgarh Additional Sessions Judge for granting the applicants anticipatory bail for a limited period of only 30 days, without recording any reason, even after the charge-sheet had been filed and cognizance taken. Finding the trial judge’s explanation unsatisfactory, the Court directed him to explain the practice, noting that anticipatory bail ordinarily enures till the conclusion of trial under the Constitution Bench decision in Sushila Aggarwal.
After the applicant was granted pardon and became an approver, the State argued that a regular bail application was no longer maintainable. The Delhi High Court treated the plea as one under its inherent jurisdiction and held that the statutory bar on releasing an approver under Section 343(4)(b) of the BNSS operates only against the Trial Court.
The Bombay High Court quashed an FIR against two men booked for drunkenly shouting at each other on a public street, holding that mere loudness, without obscenity or disturbance to a third party, does not attract the Prohibition Act, while using the occasion to lay down that criminal law cannot be a “bargaining chip” and […]
