Misjoinder of Causes of Action in Civil Cases

Misjoinder of cause of action occurs when multiple unrelated claims, or claims against different defendants without a common link, are improperly combined in a single lawsuit.  Misjoinder is the improper joining of parties or causes of action in a lawsuit. It occurs when claims that are not related or involve different defendants are combined into a single suit, without a common thread linking them.

Lok Adalat Has no Adjudicatory Powers but Permanent Lok Adalat Has

The Legal Services Authorities Act,1987 (LSA Act) refers to two types of Lok Adalats: the first is a Lok Adalat constituted under Section 19 of the Act which has no adjudicatory functions or powers and which discharges purely conciliatory functions and the second is a Permanent Lok Adalat established under section 22B(1) of LSA Act to exercise jurisdiction in respect of public utility services, having both conciliatory and adjudicatory functions.

Attachment of property by the Court Should Confine to the Proportionate Extent

The court must bring only such portion of the property, the proceeds of which would be sufficient to satisfy the claim of the decree holder, for attachment to be sold, if the property is large and the decree to be satisfied is small. This is not a discretion, but an obligation imposed on the court, says the Supreme Court (SC), in Ambati Narasayya v M. Subba Rao & Another [1990 AIR 119].

Abetment to Suicide Cannot be Charged on a Teacher for Scolding the Student

Abetment to suicide cannot be charged on a teacher for mere scolding of a student who consequently committed suicide, and no normal person could have imagined that a scolding, that too based on a complaint by a student, would result in suicide of the student so scolded, says the Supreme Court (SC) in Thangavel v The State, Through Inspector of Police & Another.

Recovery of Tainted Money Not Enough for Conviction Without Proof of Demand for Bribe

Mere recovery of tainted money is insufficient to trigger the presumption of guilt under Section 20 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, unless the entire chain of events i.e., the demand, acceptance, and recovery is established, says the Supreme Court (SC) in State of Lokayuktha Police Davangere v C B Nagaraj [2025 INSC 736].

Perverse Order of a Court : SC Explains What it is

A perverse verdict may probably be defined as one that is not only against the weight of evidence but is altogether against the evidence. Perverse can be defined as “turned the wrong way”; not right; distorted from the right; turned away or deviating from what is right, proper, correct, etc, says the SC in Ramakant Ambalal Choksi vs Harish Ambalal Choksi [2024 INSC 910].

Complaints under DV Act Can Be Quashed u/s 482 CrPC

The Supreme Court (SC), in Shaurabh Kumar Tripathi v Vidhi Rawal [2025 INSC 734], states that High Courts can quash complaints filed under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV Act), in exercise of their inherent powers under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), now S.528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023.

A Woman Subjected to Domestic Violence alone Can Seek Remedies under PWDV Act

The Protection of Women against Domestic Violence Act (PWDV Act), particularly its Section 12, makes it very clear that an application for the reliefs provided under Sections 18 to 22 can be made only by an aggrieved person or on her behalf, says the High Court of Kerala in Shynil & Others v State of Kerala & Others [2024:KER:89997].