(281) ASHOK KUMAR SAHU Vs. STATE OF ORISSA (VIG.)[ORISSA HIGH COURT] 23-12-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 300 — Double Jeopardy — Acquittal in earlier trial for offences under Essential Commodities Act on same facts bars trial for distinct offences under IPC if charges could have been made in earlier trial India Law Library Docid # 2438159
(282) SUBRAT KUMAR BEHERA Vs. STATE OF ODISHA (VIG.)[ORISSA HIGH COURT] 23-12-2025 Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 — Section 13(1)(d) — Criminal misconduct by a public servant — Essential ingredient is dishonest intention, not mere violation of rules or departmental norms, especially when no pecuniary advantage is obtained. India Law Library Docid # 2438160
(283) LAXMIDHAR SWAIN Vs. STATE OF ODISHA[ORISSA HIGH COURT] 23-12-2025 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 302 read with Section 34 — Murder — Circumstantial evidence — Solitary eyewitness testimony — Reliability — Court must scrutinize testimony of solitary eyewitness very carefully. Conviction cannot be based solely on the testimony of one witness unless it is wholly reliable, free from suspicion, and of sterling quality. India Law Library Docid # 2438161
(284) NARENDRA KUMAR PANDEY AND ANOTHER Vs. STATE OF ORISSA[ORISSA HIGH COURT] 23-12-2025 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 306 — Abetment of suicide — Essential ingredients — Clear mens rea and a proximate, live link between accused's conduct and suicide are necessary — Mere harassment or domestic discord, however reprehensible, is not sufficient — Requires a positive act of instigation, aiding, or intentional encouragement — Conviction cannot be sustained without a positive act or direct act of India Law Library Docid # 2438162
(285) STATE (GNCT OF DELHI) Vs. RAKESH SEHRAWAT AND OTHERS[DELHI HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 378(4) and 378(1) — Leave to Appeal/Appeal against Acquittal — Scope of Appellate Court Intervention — Acquittal based on doubt regarding accused identity and inconsistencies in prosecution case — When Trial Court correctly appreciates discrepancies (such as non-examination of material witnesses like PCR officials, delayed FIR, non-awareness of assailants' identity by Complainant and PW, contradictory stands on arrest memos/paperwork, and suspicious India Law Library Docid # 2437258
(286) VIJAY VERMA Vs. INDIRA WARMAN AND OTHERS[DELHI HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 1 Rule 10(2) — Discretionary Power of Court to Transpose Parties — Scope and Amplitude — Order 1 Rule 10(2) confers wide discretionary power on the Court to add, strike out, or transpose parties at any stage of the proceedings, either suo motu or upon application, when necessary for the "effective and complete adjudication" of all questions involved in the suit — This power is the primary source India Law Library Docid # 2437259
(287) HARISH MITTAL Vs. KISHAN GOPAL RATHI[DELHI HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 9 Rule 13 (Setting aside ex parte decree) — Order V Rule 20 (Substituted service) — Service of Summons — Incorrect addresses in Suit Plaint — An ex parte decree may be set aside where the appellant/defendant provides a plausible and sufficient explanation for non-appearance, particularly when the addresses provided by the plaintiff in the suit plaint for effecting service were incorrect or fictitious, leading to India Law Library Docid # 2437260
(288) BANMALI KUMAR (DIED) THROUGH LRS. AND OTHERS Vs. VASUDEO AND OTHERS[CHHATTISGARH HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code, 1959 — Section 57(2), Section 257(f) — Jurisdiction of Civil Court — Exclusion of Civil Court Jurisdiction — Challenge to Revenue Authority Orders — Suit for declaration that orders of Board of Revenue (under Section 57(2) proceedings) are null and void — Exclusion of Civil Court jurisdiction under Section 257(f) is not absolute — Civil Court's jurisdiction is not excluded where statutory tribunal has not acted in conformity with fundamental principles of judicial India Law Library Docid # 2437418
(289) STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. HIMATLAL NATHULAL BHRAHMAN (BAVADFAD) AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 378 — Appeal against acquittal — Scope of Appellate Court interference — Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 306 (Abetment of suicide) and 498-A (Cruelty by husband or relatives) — Where the Trial Court's finding of acquittal is reasonable and plausible, and not perverse, the Appellate Court should not disturb the acquittal order, even if a different view might have been India Law Library Docid # 2437671
(290) STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. ZANZIBEN RAJUBHAI BANDHIYA[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 378 — Appeal against acquittal — Scope of Appellate Court’s power — Acquittal judgment by trial court for offence under Section 135 of Indian Electricity Act, 2003 (The Act) — Appellate court must give proper weight to the view of the trial court, the presumption of innocence, and the right of the accused to the benefit of any reasonable doubt — Interference is warranted only if the India Law Library Docid # 2437745
(291) STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. KARSANBHAI LAGDHIRBHAI RABARI AND ANOTHER[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (NDPS Act) — Sections 17(c), 29, 42(2), 50(6) — Appeal against acquittal — Illegal possession of opium — Compliance with mandatory provisions for search and seizure — Failure to comply with Section 42(2) and Section 50(6) of the NDPS Act — Prosecution failed to prove that the mandatory intimation to the immediate official superior was properly sent, as neither the India Law Library Docid # 2437746
(292) SHIVSINH GANPATSINH SOLANKI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT AND ANOTHER[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), 1973 — Section 372 Proviso; Section 378(4) — Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (NI Act) — Section 138 — Appeal against Acquittal — Right of Complainant/Victim — The Complainant in a proceeding under Section 138 of the NI Act is considered a "Victim" under Section 2(wa) of the CrPC, as established by the Supreme Court in Celestium Financial v. A. Gnanasekaran (2025 INSC 804). India Law Library Docid # 2437747
(293) LR OF BALVANTBHAI NATVARLAL PATEL AND OTHERS Vs. ARUNABEN NATVARLAL PATEL AND OTHERS[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Section 96 — First Appeal — Ex parte Decree — Setting aside of — Suit for Partition — Conduct of Appellant/Defendant — Failure to cross-examine plaintiff and lead evidence despite knowledge and opportunity — When suit instituted in 1994, preliminary decree passed in 2019, and final decree in 2024 — Party served with examination-in-chief, represented by counsel, and participated till a India Law Library Docid # 2437748
(294) ASHIMA SOOD Vs. TARUN JAIN[GUJARAT HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — Sections 13(1)(ia) and 13B — Dissolution of Marriage — Conversion of Contested Divorce to Mutual Consent Divorce in Appeal — Parties, whose marriage was dissolved by an ex-parte decree under Section 13(1)(ia) on grounds of cruelty/breakdown, reached a Permanent Settlement Agreement & Memorandum of Understanding during the appeal — Agreement provided for dissolution of marriage by India Law Library Docid # 2437749
(295) M/S. UTKAL REALTORS PVT. LTD. Vs. AKHIL AGARWAL AND ANOTHER[ORISSA HIGH COURT] 22-12-2025 Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 — Section 3(1) and Proviso — Ongoing Project — Completion Certificate — Determination of project status — A project is considered completed and not subject to the Act if it received a completion certificate prior to the Act's commencement, irrespective of whether an occupancy India Law Library Docid # 2438193
(296) NADEEM S/O JAHIR Vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH[HIMACHAL PRADESH HIGH COURT] 20-12-2025 Criminal Procedure — Application for Additional Evidence at Appellate Stage — Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, Sections 348 and 432 (Corresponding to Cr.P.C., 1973, Sections 311 and 391) — Power of Appellate Court to summon witness or take further evidence — State moved application in a criminal appeal arising from POCSO conviction, seeking to re-examine the victim (PW-20) India Law Library Docid # 2438002
(297) MAHESH KUMAR AGARWAL Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND OTHERS[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 19-12-2025 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 21 — Right to travel abroad and right to hold a passport as a facet of personal liberty — Any restriction on this right must be fair, just, and reasonable, and proportionate to a legitimate purpose — The State’s power to restrain a citizen’s freedom must be narrowly confined, proportionate, and clearly anchored in law. India Law Library Docid # 2437139
(298) DR. AMIT ARYA Vs. KAMLESH KUMARI[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 19-12-2025 Specific Relief Act, 1963 — Section 28 (1) — Decree for specific performance — Payment of purchase money — Extension of time — Execution of decree — Where a decree for specific performance allows a period for the purchaser to pay the purchase money, the court has the power under Section 28(1) to extend this time on such terms as it deems fit — The power to extend time for performance of the conditions of the decree cannot be the end of the transaction, and adopting a hyper-technical approach India Law Library Docid # 2437140
(299) TARACHANDRA Vs. BHAWARLAL AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 19-12-2025 M.P. Land Revenue Code, 1959 (MPLRC) — Sections 109, 110 — Mutation of Land Records — Acquisition of Right — Mutation based on a Will — The MPLRC and the Madhya Pradesh Bhu-Rajasv Sanhita (Bhu-Abhilekhon Mein Namantaran) Niyam, 2018, do not prohibit mutation based on a registered will; application for mutation based on a will must be considered on merits — Full Bench decision of the High Court confirmed that an application for mutation based on a will cannot be rejected at the threshold — Where India Law Library Docid # 2437141
(300) BELIDE SWAGATH KUMAR Vs. STATE OF TELANGANA AND ANOTHER[SUPREME COURT OF INDIA] 19-12-2025 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 — Quashing of criminal proceedings — Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 498A (Cruelty by husband or relatives) — Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 (DP Act) — Sections 3 and 4 (Penalty for giving/taking/demanding dowry) — Allegations of matrimonial discord and cruelty — High Court refused to quash FIR and consequent complaint case against husband (appellant) for Section 498A IPC and DP Act charges, despite quashing proceedings India Law Library Docid # 2437142