Category: Op-Ed
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15 troubling aspects of the New Criminal Law amendments
Abstracted from a series of tweets by Mr. Chugh, accessible here 1. The new provision on Police Custody is deeply problematic. While it is clear that Police Custody (now) need not be confined to the first 15 days, but what’s unclear is the question as to whether Police Custody can be longer than 15 days…
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Right of the Victim to be heard in a Revision petition filed by the Accused
Are we still arguing this? Wasn’t this decided already? Well, the answer is Yes AND No. Taking a step back for a moment and frankly speaking – apart from this specific problem, we have indeed come a long way; from the days when a Victim was relegated to being a mere footnote in a criminal…
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Whether an accused can be directed to disclose his phone password by the investigators?
Background I’ve written on this subject earlier (see here) and primarily on the Karnataka High Court ruling (“Virendra Khanna”) on the subject. Ruling in Virendra Khanna In Virendra Khanna, the High Court permitted the Investigating agencies to direct the accused to disclose his password, and in case of non-compliance, seek Court’s intervention in that regard.…
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A few thoughts on the New Indian Criminal Laws. (Part 2)
This is Part 2 in a series on the analysis of the new proposed amendments to the criminal laws. You can find the 1st part here. *Caveat : This piece was written on the first draft, that is, before the first draft went to the Select Committee and a new version was put up for…
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A few thoughts on the New Indian Criminal Laws. (Part 1)
*Caveat : This piece was written on the first draft, that is, before the first draft went to the Select Committee and a new version was put up for consideration and finally passed by the Legislature. A lot of you have written to me, over the past few weeks, seeking my views on the New…
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Law in 100 Words | Part 5 | Court’s power to direct ‘no coercive steps’ against the Accused.
High Courts and the Supreme Court have the power to direct the police ‘not to take any coercive steps against the accused’. Such power may be traceable to S.482 CrPC and/or Articles 32/226 of the Constitution of India. Having said that, it is settled law that such a direction should not be passed casually and…
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Law in 100 Words | Part 4 | Whether a Police Officer can grant bail in a Non-Bailable case?
Contrary to popular misconception – that only a Court can grant bail in a non-bailable offence – the reality is that : The Police can also grant bail in non-bailable offences. A perusal of Section 437, Sub-sections (2) and (4), CrPC reveals that the architects of CrPC, in fact, vested a police officer with the…
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Law in 100 Words | Part 3 | Forgery/use of forged documents in court proceedings – Remedies/Procedure
The general principle is that if a cognizable offence has taken place (and forgery is a cognizable offence!) any person can get an FIR registered. This should hold true for forgery and filing of forged documents in court too, right? Well, the answer is Yes. But this issue wasn’t settled for a very long time. The confusion…
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Law in 100 Words | Part 2 | Electronic Evidence (65B Basics)
The Certificate u/s 65B is not required to be on an affidavit. Though normally to be filed along with the electronic record (print-out, USB drive, etc), it can be filed subsequently too, either as a supplementary chargesheet, or by resort to S.311/391 of the CrPC. In Civil cases, the certificate can be brought on record subsequently by relying upon…
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JUDGMENTS WITHOUT TEARS | PART II | Satish Chander Ahuja vs. Sneha Ahuja (GUEST POST)
This is the second in a series of posts titled ‘Judgments without tears’ where we try to make complex judgments accessible and fun. A guest post by my dear friend and super talented Vishal Vyas. Let me try unpacking Satish Chander Ahuja vs. Sneha Ahuja delivered on 15.10.2020. A 151 page judgment but a well-reasoned judgment under…
The Blog of Bharat Chugh 