Supreme Court: S 156(3) CrPC Order Is Pre-Cognizance Step, Sanction Under S 197 CrPC Not Required At That Stage

 The scheme of CrPC does not contemplate any embargo on the direction for registration of an FIR or the conduct of investigation at the pre-cognizance stage. To hold otherwise would amount to introducing a restriction not envisaged by the legislature. The process of criminal law is sequential: information of a cognizable offence must first be received; an FIR must then be registered; investigation must follow; a report under Section 173 of CrPC must thereafter be submitted; and it is only at that stage that the question of taking cognizance arises. {Para 126}

127. The requirement of sanction is, therefore, a condition precedent only for taking cognizance and not for the registration of an FIR or for the conduct of investigation. Any interpretation that makes the registration of an FIR contingent upon prior sanction would invert this statutory scheme and render the provisions relating to investigation unworkable.

129. The bar under Sections 196 and 197 of CrPC would operate

only in respect of the latter course. It could not have been invoked to deny the former. The Trial Court, therefore, fell in error in declining to exercise jurisdiction under Section 156(3) of CrPC on the ground of absence of prior sanction, and the High Court, in affirming such view, has adopted an interpretation which cannot be sustained in law.” [Emphasis supplied]

28. Thus, it is clear that the impugned order, insofar as it extends the benefit of the protective umbrella of sanction to the respondents at the stage of direction for registration of FIR under Section 156(3) CrPC, is per se unsustainable in the eyes of law.

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO(S). OF 2026

(Arising out of SLP(Crl.) No(s). 1137 of 2025)

SRI ANUMANDALA RAJESH REDDY Vs STATE OF KARNATAKA AND ANR. 

Author: Mehta, J.

Citation: 2026 INSC 1039.

Dated: AUGUST 24, 2026.

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Supreme Court permitted a mother to relocate her two minor children to the United Kingdom, while denying custody to the father who is facing prosecution under Pocso Act

 These principles, read together, make it clear

that the son’s disclosure and his safety cannot be

subordinated to the father’s claim for custody

particulars when the criminal case is still pending.

Under no circumstances, the respondent-father, as

long as he is facing prosecution, can be considered to

be a person entitled to custody of the children. Such

a course of action, apart from being contrary to the

solemn object of the Juvenile Justice Act, may also

lead to the prosecution being frustrated, inasmuch

as, were the custody of the son to be handed to the

respondent-father, the possibility of the son giving a

free and fair deposition in those proceedings would

virtually be negligible. {Para 56}

57. We are of the considered view that, even

assuming the respondent-father succeeds in the

quashing petition pending before the High Court of

Calcutta and the criminal proceedings arising out of

the POCSO FIR are quashed, the Courts would have

to remain circumspect in assessing the

circumstances and background in which the

allegations came to be levelled by the son against the

respondent-father. The subsequent outcome of the

criminal proceedings, by itself, cannot efface the

circumstances in which the disclosure was made or

render the child’s apprehensions wholly irrelevant for

the purposes of determining his welfare and custody.

REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO(S). 12774 OF 2026

DEBARATI BHUNIA CHAKRABORTY  Vs

SUMAN SANKAR BHUNIA 

Author: Mehta, J.

Citation: 2026 INSC 1043.

Dated: SEPTEMBER 23, 2026.

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Bombay HC: Can deleting sister's name from the revenue records mean that she has given up her share in the ancestral property?

 The questions formulated while admitting the Appeal are

answered as under:

(i) It is permissible to orally relinquish share in the

ancestral property by a coparcener in favour of another

coparcener in absence of a written instrument and in absence

of registration.

(ii) Oral relinquishment cannot be presumed on the basis of

a document created for the purpose of deletion of name from

revenue records, especially when such document by itself does

not effect relinquishment nor refers to any oral

relinquishment.

(iii) Mere expression of consent for allotment of share in the

ancestral property in favour of one of the coparceners forming

part of different unit does not automatically amount to

expression of relinquishment of share in the joint family

property falling to the share of claimant’s own unit. {Para 32}

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

SECOND APPEAL NO.679 OF 2023

Shekhar Shankar Joshi Vs Anita Arun Bhave

CORAM: SANDEEP V. MARNE, J.

Dated:  20 AUGUST 2026.

Citation: 026:BHC-AS:1

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Supreme Court: Amendment in S 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, which came into effect on 22nd May, 2018, would relate to an accident which had occurred prior to the said date

The short point for consideration before this Court is whether the amendment in Section 163-A of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, which came into effect by a Gazette Notification on 22nd May, 2018, would relate to an accident which had occurred prior to the said date. {Para 4}

 10. The order of the High Court is well discussed and we agree with the view taken. We may, however, add that a beneficial legislation would necessarily entail the benefit to be passed on to the claimant in the absence of any specific bar to the same. In the present case, the liability of the appellant-Insurance Company has not been interfered with. 

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Civil Appeal No. ... of 2024 (Arising Out of Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 6260 of 2019)

Date of Order: 08.02.2024

The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Urmila Halder

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Sandeep Mehta, JJ.

Citation: MANU/SCOR/20390/2024.

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