(961) MOHAMMED RIJAS Vs. STATE OF KERALA[KERALA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 376(2)(i) and 450 — Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 — Section 6 read with Section 5(m) — Penetrative sexual assault — Absence of medical evidence — Penetration in the slightest degree into the vaginal orifice or vulva suffices to establish the offence, and rupture of the hymen or genital injuries are not mandatory prerequisites — Conviction can be sustained on the cogent and credible testimony of the minor victim despite the absence of bodi India Law Library Docid # 2451652
(962) ZAHID SHANAVAS Vs. STATE OF KERALA AND ANOTHER[KERALA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — Section 69 — Sexual intercourse by deceitful means or promise to marry — Quashing of proceedings — Complainant was an adult married woman with an undissolved marriage when the physical relationship commenced — No allegation that accused knew of divorce proceedings or promised to marry after dissolution — Parties maintained prolonged physical relationship at multiple locations — Distinction between false promise from inception and subsequent breach reaffirmed — Sub India Law Library Docid # 2451653
(963) AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA, PENSIONERS FORUM Vs. AIRPORTS AUTHORITY OF INDIA AND OTHERS[KERALA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 226(2) — Territorial jurisdiction — Cause of action — Writ petition filed before Kerala High Court by a Pensioners Forum registered in Kerala claiming service and pensionary benefits for its members — Members worked and retired outside Kerala — Held, the mere presence of the Forum's office in Kerala or the fact that respondent authorities exercise nationwide jurisdiction does not confer territorial jurisdiction on the Court — No part of the cause of action a India Law Library Docid # 2451659
(964) MOHD SHAFI AND ANOTHER Vs. UNION TERRITORY OF J&K AND OTHERS[JAMMU AND KASHMIR AND LADAKH HIGH COURT AT JAMMU] 07-09-2026 Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 21 — Protection of life and personal liberty — Right to marry of choice — Police protection — Petitioners, claiming to be majors, contracted marriage out of their free will under Muslim Personal Law and sought police protection alleging threats from private respondents — Held, any adult is entitled to marry as per their wishes and the police are duty-bound to protect their life and liberty — Official respondents directed to examine the grievance and provide India Law Library Docid # 2451622
(965) STATE OF PUNJAB Vs. GURPREET ALIAS GOPI[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Criminal Law — Circumstantial Evidence — Proof beyond reasonable doubt — Death reference and appeal against conviction under Sections 302, 364, 376-A, 201 of IPC and Section 6 of POCSO Act — For conviction based on circumstantial evidence, prosecution must establish an unbroken chain of circumstances unerringly pointing to the guilt of the accused and ruling out every hypothesis consistent with innocence — Suspicion, howsoever strong, cannot substitute proof — Material contradictions between tes India Law Library Docid # 2451672
(966) HARBANS KAUR AND ANOTHER Vs. BHOLLA AND OTHERS[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 — Section 166 — Quantum of compensation — Assessment of notional income — Technical qualification — Deceased, aged 23 years, held a Diploma in Electronics and Communications — Claim of employment with a private company lacked documentary proof — Held, absence of proof of specific employment cannot justify ignoring educational qualifications and earning potential of a technical diploma holder — Notional income reasonably assessed at Rs. 14,000/- per month — Applying 40% f India Law Library Docid # 2451673
(967) INDERJIT KAUR Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND ANOTHER[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 — Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 406 and 420 — Quashing of FIR — Custody of children — Essential ingredients — Complainant alleged accused deceitfully took children to Italy without consent — Held, Section 406 IPC requires entrustment and dishonest misappropriation of property; custody of children cannot constitute entrustment of property — Section 420 IPC mandates dishonest inducement to deliver property or valuable security; obtaining custo India Law Library Docid # 2451674
(968) BALKAR RAM AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB AND OTHERS[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Service Law — Recruitment — Validity of Waiting List — Arbitrary closure of selection process — Administrative order closing recruitment for Head Teachers and Centre Head Teachers on the ground that two years had elapsed — Held, mere efflux of time without any administrative exigency cannot justify depriving selected candidates of appointment — State admitted absence of any statutory rule or instruction prescribing a two-year validity period for the waiting list — Decision taken after conducting India Law Library Docid # 2451676
(969) VED PARKASH @ LOVELY Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 — Section 37 — Constitution of India, 1950 — Article 21 — Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 483 — Regular bail — Commercial quantity — Prolonged incarceration and speedy trial — Rigour of statutory bar — Accused in custody for over four years with trial delayed due to non-cooperation of co-accused — Fundamental right to a speedy and expeditious trial under Article 21 cannot be rendered nugatory by statutory embargoes — Unwarra India Law Library Docid # 2451677
(970) BALWAN SINGH AND OTHERS Vs. STATE OF HARYANA[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Sections 441, 442 and 452 — Evidence Act, 1872 — Sections 9 and 60 — House-trespass after preparation for hurt — Site plan and proof of place of occurrence — Allegation that deceased was dragged from verandah into common street and assaulted — Site plans failed to indicate presence of cot, personal belongings, or scuffle and drag marks in verandah — Verandah was open to street without boundary walls — Incident occurred in common passage during verbal spat — In absence of India Law Library Docid # 2451678
(971) SEEMA SHARMA Vs. STATE OF HARYANA AND ANOTHER[PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — Section 528 — Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 482 — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — Sections 318, 338, 340 and 61 — Quashing of FIR — Settlement/Compromise — Principles for exercise of inherent powers — Section 528 of BNSS is identical to Section 482 of CrPC — Inherent powers can be invoked to quash proceedings in non-compoundable offences of an overwhelmingly private nature if the compromise is voluntary and free from coercion — Putting India Law Library Docid # 2451682
(972) MADEVA NAICKER Vs. T.C.SWAMYAPPA AND ANOTHER[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Order 47 Rule 1 — Review jurisdiction — Scope and maintainability — Review is not an appeal in disguise — Power of review is exercisable only for correction of a patent mistake or error apparent on the face of the record, discovery of new and important evidence not available despite due diligence, or other analogous sufficient reason — Review cannot be invoked to rehear arguments, substitute a view, or re-agitate merits — An error requiring a process of reasoni India Law Library Docid # 2451697
(973) T.S. SIVAKUMAR ALIAS PRAKASH Vs. T.S.CHELLAKUMARASAMY AND OTHERS[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Civil Procedure Code, 1908 (CPC) — Article 226 — Disputed questions of fact — Scope of writ jurisdiction — Customary right of burial versus Right of access over cart track poromboke — Single Judge issued positive directions for fencing, reclassification, and excluding land from cart track category based on Collector's inspection report — Held, whether customary right of burial existed on land classified as cart track involves complex questions of fact requiring evidence and cross-examination — A India Law Library Docid # 2451698
(974) M.ELANGOVAN Vs. THE CHAIRMAN, TAMIL NADU GENERATION AND DISTRIBUTION CORPORATION LTD. AND OTHERS[MADRAS HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Service Law — Compassionate Appointment — Claim for retrospective appointment based on subsequent equivalence of qualification — Petitioner was appointed as Junior Assistant on compassionate grounds in 2009 holding an M.S. (Software) degree — State Government declared the degree equivalent to B.E./B.Tech in 2022 — Petitioner sought retrospective appointment as Technical Assistant from 2009 with consequential promotions — Held, compassionate appointment is a concession and an exception to regular India Law Library Docid # 2451699
(975) CHILD IN CONFLICT WITH LAW (CICL) XXYY Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR AND ANOTHER[PATNA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 — Section 12 — Bail to child in conflict with law — Scope and principles — Section 12 overrides the Code of Criminal Procedure — Bail to a juvenile is the rule and refusal is an exception — Gravity, seriousness, or heinous nature of the alleged offence is not a relevant consideration for rejecting bail — Section 12 applies uniformly to all juveniles, including those aged between 16 and 18 years facing trial as adults — Denial of bail i India Law Library Docid # 2451855
(976) BHAWANI DEVI AND ANOTHER Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR AND OTHERS[PATNA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Service Law — Family Pension — Apportionment and reduction by administrative authority — Legality of — District Programme Officer pooled widow's family pension with the salary of her son and redistributed the aggregate amount among family members, reducing the widow's pension — Held, family pension flows from statutory rules and does not form part of general family income poolable or apportionable at administrative discretion — Any alteration or reduction requires explicit statutory authority — India Law Library Docid # 2451861
(977) STATE OF BIHAR AND OTHERS Vs. DHANESHWAR PRASAD[PATNA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Limitation Act, 1963 — Section 5 — Condonation of delay — Letters Patent Appeal filed by State with delay of 1864 days (over 5 years) — Plea of COVID-19 pandemic — Exclusion of limitation — Even after excluding the pandemic period from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 as per Supreme Court directions, an unexplained delay of 3 years and 2 months remained (1 year 91/2 months pre-pandemic and 1 year 41/2 months post-normalcy) — No sufficient cause or cogent explanation furnished for the inaction during the India Law Library Docid # 2451866
(978) SUJIT KUMAR DAS Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR[PATNA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (CrPC) — Section 227 — Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) — Section 306 — Discharge — Scope of inquiry — Disputed questions of fact — Petitioner sought quashing of order rejecting discharge in an abetment of suicide case — Deceased left a suicide note naming petitioner for blackmail and pressure to commit illegal bank activities — Petitioner disputed genuineness of the note for want of forensic report and argued death was an accident — Held, disputed factual questions regarding India Law Library Docid # 2451868
(979) SRI RAM CHAUDHARY Vs. THE STATE OF BIHAR[PATNA HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 — Section 138 and Section 147 — Dishonour of cheque — Compoundability of offence — Compensatory nature of proceedings — Dispute between the parties amicably resolved through mediation — Full and final settlement amount realized through bank payments and adjustment of material costs — Held, the offence punishable under Section 138 is compoundable under Section 147 of the Act — The object underlying provisions relating to dishonour of cheques is primarily compensat India Law Library Docid # 2451870
(980) DR. SANGEETA VISHWAKARMA @ SANGEETA VISHWAKARMA Vs. RAHUL RANJAN[JHARKHAND HIGH COURT] 07-09-2026 Guardians and Wards Act, 1890 — Section 12 — Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956 — Section 13 — Interim custody — Deviation from pleadings — Perversity — Mother sought interim custody of minor daughter aged under four years — Family Court failed to adjudicate the specific prayer for interim custody and instead granted only visitation rights — Pendency of main proceedings for permanent custody under Sections 7 and 25 does not bar determination of interim custody under Section 12 — Order pas India Law Library Docid # 2451884