Saturday, 19 July 2025

Talengana HC: Whether Magistrate can take cognizance of the offence punishable under Pocso Act?

 As the statutory positions in the Cr.P.C. and the POCSO Act are not mutually exclusive, it shall be construed that the Special Court in the stand of Court of Sessions may receive a case on committal from the Magistrate. Meaning thereby the jurisdictional Magistrate is empowered to receive police report or complaint as set down under Section 190 of the Cr.P.C. even in regard to the offences under POCSO Act and after taking cognizance, the same may be committed to the Special Court.{Para 13}

14. Concomitantly, the Special Court is also empowered under Section 33(1) of the POCSO Act to take cognizance of the offence. In that way, the Special Court without any committal procedure can directly receive complaint and while doing so the Special Court sets in the position of Magistrate and would process the complaint by applying relevant procedure.

15. For the aforesaid, it shall be understood that the legislature at its wisdom had provided direct reach to the special Court in addition to the indirect committal procedure to extend the needed relief employing either of the forums. Thus, the jurisdictional Magistrate and the Special Court are correspondingly empowered to take cognizance of an offence under POCSO Act upon the complaint. Consequently, it shall be held that, returning of the private complaint by the Special Court and the Magistrate is improper and against the provisions of law.

19. In this position, it has to be concluded that even for the offence under the POCSO Act the Magistrate is not barred to take cognizance and by the enabling provision, the Special Court is also empowered to take cognizance of the offence under the POCSO Act either upon the police report or on complaint within its territorial jurisdiction. 

Talengana High Court

 THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N. TUKARAMJI

CRIMINAL REVISION CASE No.290 OF 2023

Dated: Date: 18.08.2023.

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Friday, 18 July 2025

AP HC: What action Insurance Company should take if it comes to its knowledge that claimant has put up a false motor accident claim petition in collusion with police?

Admittedly, in this case, the claimants have filed the claim petition on 17.10.2001. The Insurance Company filed counter thereafter. This means, the Insurance Company had knowledge that an allegation is made by the claimant with regard to the involvement of the lorry bearing registration No. ABT 3 in this accident. When the Insurance Company had knowledge that the claimants have alleged involvement of the lorry bearing registration No. ABT 3 in the accident, the Insurance Company should verify the facts. The possibility of falsely involving the vehicle in an accident cannot be ruled out. But as seen from the recitals of the counter, the Insurance Company had not taken any specific stand. At one stage, it doubted the involvement of the offending vehicle in the accident and at another stage, the insurance company had pleaded that the deceased himself had contributed to the accident. Thus, the insurance company had no clear view with regard to the involvement of the offending vehicle in the accident. When the Insurance Company entertains a doubt with regard to the involvement of a vehicle in the accident, it should appoint an investigator to enquire into the allegations as to whether a particular vehicle had plied on the particular route at particular time on a particular day or not. Fact should be verified. If the Insurance Company collects any such evidence to establish that the vehicle was not involved in the accident, then, they must contest the matter and adduce evidence in support of their case. When they come to know that the police investigation is false or that a vehicle is falsely implicated in a case, they must approach the superior police officers and see that necessary action is taken against the erring police officers who have filed a false charge-sheet implicating the vehicle which has no involvement in the accident. They must also challenge the charge-sheet in appropriate proceedings. What happened during the course of investigation and how the police have come to know about the involvement of the vehicle and whether it is due to Finding of the driving licence of the driver of the offending vehicle at the place of accident or due to the version of the eye witnesses, all those aspects cannot be gone into at this stage. The possibility of police coming to know about the involvement of a vehicle or an accused through some unknown source also cannot be ruled out. The police officers do commit certain mistakes and involve innocent persons in criminal cases. Due to over enthusiastic attitude also, they commit mistakes. What is the fact is to be ascertained. It has to be seen whether police investigation resulted in finding the truth or not. If at all the findings of the police are found to be totally incorrect, it is for the insurance company to adduce some evidence to show that the contents of the charge-sheet are false. It is a fact that P.W. 2 deposed that the offending vehicle was not stopped at the place of accident. If that version is correct, there is no possibility of falling of driving licence at the place of accident. Admittedly, the accident occurred during the night time. Even if P.W. 2 had witnessed the accident and noted the offending vehicle number, admittedly he did not get down from the lorry in which he was travelling. It appears that it being night time, he could not have observed the place of accident and he might not have observed each and every object fallen at the place of accident. It is only during the course of preparation of panchanama at the place of accident that the panchas and the police are expected to observe each and every item and note them in their panchanama. The very purpose of conducting panchanama and the scene of offence is to show the location of the dead body, location of offending vehicle, time, marks or falling of any other objects at the place of accident.

{Para 19}

20. During the course of arguments, learned counsel for the respondents/insurance company submitted that the version of P.W. 2 that the offending vehicle was not stopped at the place of accident supports the version of the insurance company that there is no possibility of falling of the driving licence of the driver of the offending vehicle at the place of accident. As discussed above, since there is no clear evidence to show the distance between the offending lorry and the lorry in which P.W. 2 was travelling, the version of P.W. 2 that the offending vehicle did not stop at the place of accident need not be given much importance. Of course, this circumstance indicates that P.W. 2 also did not see the occurring of the accident. Even if we discard the evidence of P.W. 2, charge-sheet shows that there are two other eye-witnesses. Unless it is shown that police investigation is false, we cannot reach to a definite conclusion. When there is reasonable doubt in a claim petition arising out of the motor accidents, the benefit of doubt should go to the claimants. The possibility of the driver of the offending lorry stopping the offending vehicle at the place of the accident and looking at the scene and fleeing away from the place of accident also cannot be ruled out. Unless there is reliable evidence to show that the contents of the charge-sheet are false, on mere surmise, it cannot be said that the contents of the charge-sheet or the police investigation is false.


21. Learned standing counsel for the insurance company submitted that the insurance company has appointed the investigator, but however, the report of the said investigator is not available in the records of the insurance company. When such an important document is not filed by the insurance company, normally, adverse inference has to be drawn against the insurance company. Admittedly, none were examined on behalf of the insurance company. Mere taking a plea that the offending vehicle was not involved in the accident or that there is contributory negligence would not help the insurance company in the absence of any reliable evidence in support of their contentions, A pleading cannot be taken as proved unless there is evidence to prove the same.

 IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD

M.A.C.M.A. No. 2128 of 2005

Decided On: 26.03.2014

K. Rajani Vs. M. Satyanarayana Goud

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

B. Chandra Kumar, J.

Citation: 2014 ALT 6 3312015 ANWR AP 1 52015 ACC AP 3 2932015 ACJ 7972014 SCC ONLINE AP 418, MANU/AP/0828/2014
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Madhya Pradesh HC: Under which police papers are not binding on Motor Accident Claims Tribunal for deciding claim petition?

 Thus, it is clear that the claim cases cannot be decided solely only on the basis of documents forming part of police record. The claim cases are to be decided on the basis of material evidence, which is led before the Claims Tribunal. Furthermore, the documents collected during the investigation and the opinion formed by the Investigating Officer is not binding on the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal. {Para 6}

 IN THE HIGH COURT OF MADHYA PRADESH (JABALPUR BENCH)

Misc. Petition No. 5892 of 2024

Decided On: 25.10.2024

IFFCO Tokyo General Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Mamta Bai Lodhi and Ors.

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

Gurpal Singh Ahluwalia, J.

Citation: 2024:MPHC-JBP:54034,MANU/MP/3933/2024.

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Sunday, 13 July 2025

Digital Forgery in the Courtroom: Lessons from COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Dalian) Co Ltd & Anor v Osta Fleet Sdn Bhd


 Introduction

The digital age has revolutionized the way documents are created, shared, and stored. However, it has also introduced new avenues for fraud, particularly through digital manipulation of documents. The recent Malaysian High Court decision in COSCO Shipping Heavy Industry (Dalian) Co Ltd & Anor v Osta Fleet Sdn Bhd offers a compelling case study on how courts can address and analyze digitally forged documents.

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