Bringing you the Best Analytical Legal News
Covering all the important criminal cases across various High Courts and the Supreme Court, this roundup provides a quick summary of cases, links to other roundups and a few top stories of the July 2025.
“What is deeply concerning is the use of technology to commit cyberbullying — an act that, while faceless and silent, can be as mentally traumatic and scarring as physical violence, especially when directed towards children.”
The Court observed that even though weapons are recovered from one of the accused, it is not the prosecution’s case that those weapons were used for any terrorist activity and/or toppling the Government.
In the present case, allegations are by way of written words before the police and before the judicial authorities, thus, such imputation will amount to defamation when the case does not fall within either of the ten exceptions to Section 499.
The Court stated that agreement of surrogacy is opposed to public policy in India. Therefore, consent for sexual relation under such illegal surrogacy agreement is not a valid consent as per the provisions of the Penal Code, 1860.
The Court reiterated that social media is misused by certain people in the garb of “Freedom of Speech and Expression” by posting such material that creates hatred and disharmony among the people, such actions are detrimental to national unity and public order.
Even if the entire allegations made against the petitioner are considered to be true in their entirety, the continuation of this criminal proceeding against the petitioner will amount to abuse of process of law.
The Court noted that there were repeated incidents of accused and victim, being involved in sexual intercourse. However, the victim never informed any of her family members that the accused trespassed into her house and raped her. Even when she became pregnant, she did not disclose the incident to her family members.
“In cases involving adolescents or young adults, especially where the relationship is not formally sanctioned by families, legal proceedings may become a proxy for familial disapproval rather than a genuine invocation of victimhood.”
“In the present case, despite the clear statement given by the survivor that the relationship between the appellant and herself was consensual in nature, he has been convicted under the POCSO Act only for the reason that on the date of incident she was less than 18 years of age.”
The Court noted that the complainant (‘victim’) and her mother, were currently exploring matrimonial prospects, and that the pendency of a criminal case might result as a serious impediment to her future opportunities and personal relationships.
“Every false complaint of sexual offences not just causes immense damage to the person accused of the offence, but also creates cynicism and distrust across the society, which leads to even the genuine victims of sexual offences suffer, as society starts suspecting her truthful complaint also to be false.”
“Section 330(3) of CrPC mandates the Court to carefully consider the nature of the act committed, assess the degree of the mental condition, seek medical opinion, and then, only upon being satisfied, release the accused with adequate safeguards or refer him to a designated facility equipped to provide necessary care and rehabilitation.”
“When individuals, driven by financial inducement or otherwise, seek to breach this trust by serving as conduits to foreign agencies, amounts to an act not only of grave criminality but of betrayal to the nation.”
The Court stated that the charge under Section 377 of IPC could not have been framed against the husband. A ‘consensual’ oral or anal intercourse between any two adults, in private, is not a criminal offence punishable under Section 377 of IPC.
The case began with a search and seizure by the Enforcement Directorate under Section 37 of FEMA at the petitioners’ premises and during the operation, the petitioners allegedly confessed to illegal hawala transactions worth ₹3,500 crore routed abroad using fabricated documents to remit money to their companies in Hong Kong and Canada.
“Every case of suicide does not amount to abetment and therefore, the Court has to see whether the conduct of the accused was such that a normal person, not merely a hypersensitive one, would have been driven to suicide.”
“If the complaint lodged by the prosecutrix is truthful, instead of extending premium to a rapist and a molester by pushing the helpless rape victim into his matrimony, it would be the duty of the State to ensure her a dignified life by providing her food, shelter and clothing.”
In the present case seeking regular bail by the accused, the charge-sheet comprising about 10,000 pages was filed over 1 year ago citing 49 prosecution witnesses, but charges are yet to be framed. Therefore, the Court stated that it is obvious that trial will take a long time to conclude.
The expression “soon before her death” in Section 304-B of Penal Code, 1860 must be read as an expression of continuity of time and not an expression of mere length of time. The legislature in its wisdom had used the phrase as “soon before” and not “immediately before”.