Criminal Laws & Procedures

The Article 20(3) of the Constitution of India protects an individual from giving testimonial evidence against himself. But despite such a safeguard an accused cannot escape from giving his blood sample during the investigation of a criminal case on the basis of that protection, the Kerala High Court in Das @ Anu v. State of Kerala ruled.

To prove the age of the victim the following three methods are genrally resorted to: the matriculation or equivalent certificates, if available; and in the absence whereof; the date of birth certificate from the school (other than a play school) first attended; and in the absence whereof; the birth certificate given by a corporation or a municipal authority or a panchayat;

A victim has the right to engage an advocate in the criminal proceedings she is involved in, under the law. The legal provision that empowers her to engage an advocate of his choice to assist the prosecution of criminal case, with due permission of the court is the proviso to Section 24 (8) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

If the court considers that the charge against the accused is prima facie groundless it shall pass an order of discharge under Section 239 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973(CrPC). If the accused is not discharged, then the court is bound to frame the charge against the accused.

The Supreme Court (SC), in a Suo Motu Criminal Contempt Petition No.866 of 2021, said on 23rd May 2022 that making allegations against judges is unfortunately becoming a new fashion now and the stronger the judge, the greater the allegations against him.

The Supreme Court (SC), on 18th May 2022, ordered the release of A G Perarivalan, one of the life convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination (in the case AG Perarivalan v State) by resolving some of the unsettled legal issues.

The consent expressed by a woman involved in a sexual act must be an unequivocal voluntary agreement or willingness to participate in the specific sexual act. It can be communicated by the woman by words, gesture or any form or verbal or non-verbal communication.

A conspiracy takes place when two or more people make an agreement to commit or cause to be done, an illegal act or a legal act through illegal means and to take some step consequent to the agreement. Conspiracy does not require that the illegal act to be completed. A group of individuals can be convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary even if the actual burglary never happens. In a conspiracy an accused can be charged with both the offences: the conspiracy to commit a crime, and the crime itself.

The act of giving false oral evidence (perjury) or giving false written statement (forgery) is a criminal offence, punishable under Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC). The word perjury is not used in IPC, but forgery is described in Section 463 IPC.

The High Court (HC) cannot direct the investigation agency not to arrest the accused during the course of investigation or to ask the Trial Magistrate to admit the accused on bail while dismissing the application of the accused for quashing the Fist Information Report (FIR) under Section 482 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC).