Overview of September Month
In this month, the Supreme Court (SC) of India delivered a total of 83 judgments. Apart from these cases, the SC also heard matters including RG Kar Hospital Rape and Murder Case, the Tirupati Balaji Adulterated Ghee case, Karnataka High Court Judge’s controversial Remark Case, and many more. Let us discuss in brief some of the important verdicts or decisions of the Supreme Court delivered in September 2024.
Important Verdicts of September Month
PMLA Prevails Over CrPC in Summoning Procedure
Judgment Name: Abhishekh Banerjee & Anr. vs. Directorate of Enforcement (September 09, 2024)
Bench: Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma
Articles and Acts Involved: {The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973- Section 190 (1)(a) r/w Section 200}, {The India Penal Code, 1860- Section 120B, 409, Section 174}, {The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, Section 120B and 409, Section 174}, and {The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(a)}
Judgment Brief and Decision: The bench was hearing Abhishek Banerjee and his wine Rujira Banerjee’s plea seeking quashing of summons issued by the ED (Respondent) in relation to a money laundering case (under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act). They also sought a direction against the ED not to issue any Summons under Section 50 of the PMLA to them for their appearance in New Delhi, rather than their hometown/ place of domicile i.e. Kolkata. The bench said, “...Rs. 168 Crores were transferred through vouchers to Delhi and Overseas, which clearly established adequate nexus of the offence and the offenders with the territory of Delhi. We therefore do not find any illegality in the summons issued by the respondent-ED summoning the Appellants to its Office at Delhi, which also has the territorial jurisdiction, a part of the offence having been allegedly committed by the accused persons as alleged in the complaint. It is also not disputed that Appellant No.1 being a Member of Parliament has also an official residence at Delhi.” It also illustrated that “Thus, there being specific procedure prescribed under the Statutory Rules of 2005 for summoning the person under sub-sections (2) and (3) of Section 50 of the Act, the same would prevail over any other procedure prescribed under the Code, particularly the procedure contemplated in Section 160/161, as also the procedure for production of documents contemplated in Section 91 of the Code, in view of the overriding effect given to the PMLA over the other Acts including the Cr.P.C. under Section 71 r/w Section 65 of the PMLA.”
Bail to Arvind Kejriwal in CBI Case
Judgment Name: Arvind Kejriwal vs. Central Bureau of Investigation (September 13, 2024)
Bench: Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan
Articles and Acts Involved: {The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973- Section 439}, {The Indian Penal Code, 1806- Section 120B read with Section 477A}, {The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002- Section 19}, and {The Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988- Section 7}
Judgment Brief and Decision: The Supreme Court granted bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a case registered by the CBI in connection with the Delhi Excise Policy Scam. While granting relief to Arvind Kejriwal, the SC bench criticized the CBI and questioned their arrest. It said, “...CBI case was registered on 17.08.2022. Till the arrest of the appellant by the ED on 21.03.2024, CBI did not feel the necessity to arrest the appellant though it had interrogated him about a year back on 16.04.2023.” The bench granted him bail stating that it would be a travesty of justice to keep the appellant in further detention in the CBI case, more so, when he had already been granted bail on the same set of allegations under the more stringent provisions of PMLA.
Online Presence of Only Those Advocates be Furnished Who are Appearing or Assisting During Hearing
Judgment Name: Bhagwan Singh vs. State of UP & Ors. (September 20, 2024)
Bench: Justice Bela M Trivedi and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma
Articles and Acts Involved: {The Criminal Procedure Code, 1973- Section 482}, {The Indian Penal Code, 1860- Section 363, 366 and 376}, {The Notaries Act, 1952- Section 8}, and {The Notaries Rules, 1956- Rule 11}
Judgment Brief and Decision: In this case, false proceedings were filed in the name of the appellant in the High Court and Supreme Court, by filing false and fabricated documents. The bench opined “Though, the said Bhagwan Singh had never met any of the…Advocates nor had instructed any advocates to file the proceedings in the High Court or the Supreme Court and, though he had never met his daughter…and son- in-law…since the time they had eloped and married with each other in 2013, they with the help and assistance of the said Advocates had tried to misuse and abuse the process of law and malign the stream of justice.” Further, the top court bench came down heavily on Advocates-on-Record for their insensitive approach in practicing before it. The Supreme Court directed “...in this Court, online presence of only those advocates be furnished and be marked who are appearing or assisting during hearing as indicated above and not of those who are not present in Court but may be associated in office of the advocates.” It added, “Request the member of the Supreme Court Bar Association and Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association to furnish online presence only of those advocates as indicated, and ensure its compliance in true sense and spirit.”
Storing Child Pornography Material, Constitutes An Offence Under POCSO Act
Judgment Name: Just Rights For Children Alliance vs. S. Harish (September 23, 2024)
Bench: Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice JB Pardiwala
Articles and Acts Involved: {The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973- Section 482}, {The Information Technology Act, 2000- Section 67B}, and {The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012- Section 15(1)}
Judgment Brief and Decision: The bench set aside the Madras High Court (HC) judgment which held that merely watching and storage of child pornography on digital devices without any intention to transmit the same was not an offence under the POCSO Act (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act). It said that the HC committed an egregious error in passing the impugned judgment. The SC further suggested the Union of India in its Ministry of Women and Child Development that the “Parliament should seriously consider to bring about an amendment to the POCSO for the purpose of substituting the term ‘child pornography’ that with ‘child sexual exploitative and abuse material’ (CSEAM) with a view to reflect more accurately on the reality of such offences.”
Bail to V Senthil Balaji in Money Laundering Case
Judgment Name: V. Senthil Balaji vs. The Deputy Director, Directorate of Enforcement (September 26, 2024)
Bench: Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih
Articles and Acts Involved: {The Constitution of India, 1950- Article 21}, {The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973- Section 439}, and {The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002- Section 3}
Judgment Brief and Decision: The SC bench granted bail to former Tamil Nadu Minister V Senthil Balaji in the money laundering case in connection with the cash for jobs scam. He was arrested in June 2023, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and a charge sheet was filed against him on August 12, 2023. While pronouncing the judgment, the bench said “We have referred to Najeeb and other judgements. What we have said is that stringent and higher threshold of bail and delay in prosecution cannot go together. And therefore we have slightly expanded the scope in Najeeb and bail granted but there are very onerous conditions put in the bail.”
Other Important Judgments
- Seetharama Shetty vs. Monappa Shetty (September 02, 2024)
- Ishwar (Since Deceased) Thr. LRS & Ors. vs. Bhim Singh & Anr. (September 03, 2024)
- Vaibhav Jain vs. Hindustan Motors Pvt. Ltd. (September 03, 2024)
- Choudappa & Anr. vs. Choudappa since deceased by LRS. & Ors. (September 03, 2024)
- Nitya Nand vs. State of UP & Anr. (September 04, 2024)
- P.N. Gupta vs. Rajinder Singh Dogra (September 05, 2024)
- Chirag Bhanu Singh & Anr. vs. High Court of Himachal Pradesh & Ors. (September 06, 2024)
- Dharmendra Sharma vs. Agra Development Authority (September 06, 2024)
- Mandakini Diwan and Anr. vs. The High Court of Chhattisgarh & Ors. (September 06, 2024)
- Somprabha Rana & Ors. vs. The State of Madhya Pradesh & Ors. (September 06, 2024)
- Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation & Ors. vs. V.V. Brahma Reddy & Anr. (September 06, 2024)
- Baccarose Perfumes and Beauty Products Pvt. Ltd. vs. Central Bureau of Investigation & Anr. (September 06, 2024)
- Anantdeep Singh vs. The High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh & Anr. (September 06, 2024)
- Union of India & Ors. vs. Lt. Col. Rahul Arora (September 09, 2024)
- Chalasani Udaya Shankar and others vs. M/s. Lexus Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and others (September 09, 2024)
- Cox & Kings Ltd. vs. SAP India Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. (September 09, 2024)
- Dhanraj Aswani vs. Amar S. Mulchandani & Anr. (September 09, 2024)
- Ashok Kumar Sharma & Ors. vs. Union of India (September 09, 2024)
- Sahil Bhargava & Ors. vs. State of Uttarakhand & Ors. (September 09, 2024)
- M/s Sitaram Enterprises vs. Prithviraj Vardichand Jain (September 09, 2024)
- Manilal vs. The State of Rajasthan & Ors. (September 10, 2024)
- Raghuveer Sharan vs. District Sahakari Krishi Gramin Vikas Bank & Anr. (September 10, 2024)
- S Vijikumari vs. Mowneshwarachari C (September 10, 2024)
- RP Garg vs. The Chief General Manager, Telecom Department & Ors. (September 10, 2024)
- Sukhmander Singh and Ors etc. vs. The State of Punjab and Ors etc. (September 11, 2024)
- Pune Municipal Corporation vs. SUS Road Baner Vikas Manch and Others (September 12, 2024)
- Jaseela Shaji vs. The Union of India & Ors. (September 12, 2024)
- Ravinder Kumar vs. State of Haryana (September 12, 2024)
- Rohan Builders (India) Private Limited vs. Berger Paints India Limited (September 12, 2024)
- Rabbu@Sarvesh vs. The State of Madhya Pradesh (September 12, 2024)
- Kimneo Haokip Hangshing vs. Kenn Raikhan & Ors. (September 13, 2024)
- Kukreja Construction Company & Others vs. State of Maharashtra & Others (September 13, 2024)
- S.D. Manohara vs. Konkan Railway Corporation Limited & Ors. (September 13, 2024)
- Meera Devi (D) The. Lr. vs. Dinesh Chandra Joshi (D) The. Lr. (September 19, 2024)
- Sushma vs. Nitin Ganapati Rangole & Ors. (September 19, 2024)
- Santosh@Rajesh@Gopal vs. State of Madhya Pradesh (September 19, 2024)
- Ajay Madhususan Patel & Ors. vs. Jyotrindra S. Patel & Ors. (September 20, 2024)
- Rajesh Mitra@Rajesh Kumar Mitra & Anr. vs. Karanani Properties Ltd. (September 20, 2024)
- Shoor Singh & Anr. vs. State of Uttarakhand (September 20, 2024)
- M/s. Ultra-Tech Cement Ltd. vs. Mast Ram & Ors. (September 20, 2024)
- OPG Power Generation Private Limited vs. Enexio Power Cooling Solutions India Private Limited & Anr. (September 20, 2024)
- Fuleshwar Gope vs. Union of India & Ors. (September 23, 2024)
- Yogarani vs. State by the Inspector of Police (September 23, 2024)
- Shyamsundar Radheshyam Agrawal & Anr. vs. Pushpabai Nilkanth Patil & Ors. (September 24, 2024)
- Sunil@Sonu etc. vs. State NCT of Delhi (September 24, 2024)
- Vijay Singh@Vijay Kr. Sharma vs. The State of Bihar (September 25, 2024)
- Kailashben Mahendrabhai Patel & Ors. vs. State of Maharashtra & Anr. (September 25, 2024)
- Manik & Ors. vs. The State of Maharashtra (September 25, 2024)
- Lakha Singh vs. Balwinder Singh & Anr. (September 27, 2024)
- K Vadivel vs. K Shanthi & Ors. (September 30, 2024)