10 Most Interesting Indian Court Cases Everyone Needs To Know

10 Interesting Indian Court Cases You Need To Know

Yes, it's a cliché but India is a great example of how often fact is 

stranger than fiction. 

The Indian Judicial System is a treasure trove of such stories. 

Here are some of the most important and influential cases in

 Indian history. 

Read on.

1. K.M. Nanavati vs State of Maharashtra (1959)

This case was the last time there was a jury trial in India. KM Nanavati, 

a naval officer, murdered his wife's lover, Prem Ahuja. A jury trial was 

held to decide whether it was a crime of passion (carrying a ten year 

sentence) or pre-meditated murder (life imprisonment) to which Nanavati 

pleaded 'not guilty'. The jury ruled in favor of him but the verdict was 

dismissed by the Bombay High Court and the case was retried as 

a bench trial. 

2. State of Orissa vs Ram Bahadur Thapa (1959)

This is a bizarre one. Ram Bahadur Thapa was  the servant of 

one J.B. Chatterjee of Chatterjee Bros. firm in Calcutta. They had come

 to Rasogovindpur, a village in Balasore district in Orissa to purchase 

aeroscrap from an abandoned aerodrome outside the village. Because it

 was abandoned, the locals believed it was haunted. This piqued the 

curiosity of Chatterjee who wanted to "see the ghosts". At night, as they

 were making their way to the aerodrome they saw a flickering light within

 the premises which, due to the strong wind, seemed to move. They thought

 it was will-o'-the-wisp. Thapa jumped into action as he unleashed his khukri

 to attack the "ghosts". Turns out, they were local adivasi women with a

hurricane lantern who had gathered under a mohua tree to collect some

 flowers. Thapa's indiscriminate hacking caused the death of one Gelhi

 Majhiani and injured two other women. The Sessions court judge however, 

acquitted Thapa declaring that his actions were the result of a stern belief in 

ghosts and that in the moment, Thapa believed that they were lawfully justified.  

3. Mathura Rape Case (1972)

This is one of the most important cases in the country, because the 

protests that followed the verdict, forced some important changes in 

rape laws in India. Mathura, a young tribal woman, was raped by two 

constables within the premises of the Desai Ganj Police Station in

 Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. The Sessions court judge found

 the accused not guilty. The reasoning behind this was (believe it or not) 

that Mathura was habituated to sexual intercourse. This, according to 

the judge, clearly implied that the sexual act in the police station was 

consensual. The amendments to the law that were forced by the protests 

got one thing right - submission does not mean consent. 

4. Kesavananda Bharti vs State of Kerala

If there's one reason India can still call itself 'the world's largest democracy', 

it is this case. Swami Kesavananda Bharti ran a Hindu Mutt in Edneer village 

in Kerala but the state wanted to appropriate the land. Bharti, who was 

consulted by noted jurist Nanabhoy Palhkivala, filed a petition claiming that 

a religious institution had the right to run its business without government

 interference. The State invoked Article 31 which states "no person shall be 

deprived of his property save by authority of law." A bench of 13 judges

 deliberated on the facts of the case and through a narrow 7-6 majority, 

formulated the Basic Structure Doctrine, which puts some restrictions to 

how much the Parliament can amend the Constitutional laws. In many ways,

 the judgement here is considered to be a big middle finger to the then 

Central government under Indira Gandhi. Soon after, the emergency followed.

5. NALSA vs Union of India (2014)

This is the landmark decision by the Supreme Court of India which 

declared that Transgendered People were the 'third gender' and that they

 had equal rights as any other gender. The petitioner in this case was the

 National Legal Services Authority (NALSA). 

6. Mohd. Ahmed Khan vs Shah Bano Begum (1985)

62-year old mother of five, Shah Bano Begum was divorced by her husband, 

Mohd. Ahmed Khan. She filed a criminal suit against him in the Supreme 

Court and claimed alimony, which was then granted to her. But then the 

Islamic orthodoxy protested the judgement claiming the practice of granting

 alimony as anti-Islamic. The Congress government, which was in power

back then, succumbed to the pressure and passed the Muslim Women

 (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 which diluted the Supreme Court 

judgement and further denied destitute Muslim divorcees the right to alimony 

from their ex-husbands. This case is regularly mentioned during talks about

 'Uniform Civil Code' in the country. 

7. Lal Bihari Identity Case (1975-1994)

Lal Bihari, was born in 1955; was dead through 1975 to 1994, and

 since then he has been an activist. Yes, you read that right. His uncle

 had bribed government officials to declare him dead so as to inherit their

 ancenstral land, and so, as per official records, Mr Lal Bihari was 

registered as 'deceased'. Once he realized what had happened, he 

started his struggle against the Indian bureaucracy to prove that he was 

alive. In the meantime, he performed his mock funeral, asked for widow's

compensation for his wife, stood in the election against Rajiv Gandhi in 

1989 and even added a 'Mritak' to his name. As of now, he heads an 

organization that tries to handle similar identity cases for people who 

have been officially declared dead but are actually still alive. 

 

8. Bhawal Case (1921-1946)

It's still regarded as one of India's weirdest identity cases. It mainly 

revolved around a possible impostor who claimed to be the prince of 

Bhawal Estate, one which comprised over 2000 villages and was one 

of undivided Bengal's largest zamindari estates. Ramendra, the second

 kumar of the Bhawal estate died in the early 20th century, but there were

 rumours about him not really being dead. Ten years later,  in 1921, a 

sanyaasi who looked a lot like Ramendra was found wandering the streets 

of Dhaka. For some reason, the former tenants and farmers of Ramendra 

vouched for this man and also supported his claim to the title. Almost

 everyone except Ramendra's widow, Bibhabati, believed him. There was 

a long legal process involving two trials where both sides attempted to 

prove their claims. In the meantime, the new Ramendra also moved to 

Calcutta and where he was welcomed in the elite circles. He used to

 regularly collect 1/3rd of the estate revenue, which was his share. He

 used that money to support his lifestyle while also paying the legal fees 

of the case. In the end, in 1946, the court finally ruled in his favour, but soon 

after that he passed away due to a stroke he had suffered a couple of

 days earlier. 

9. Tarakeswar Case (1874)

This case was so (for lack of a better word) 'popular', that authorities

 had to sell tickets to let people come inside the sessions court. And 

the story itself is nothing short of a blockbuster. Nobin Chandra slit the

 throat of his 16-year old wife, Elokeshi, who was apparently having an

 affair with the mahant of the local Tarakeswar temple. Even though 

Nobin Chandra handed himself over to the police and confessed his crime,

 the locals were mostly on his side. The police had to let him go after 

two years, even though he was serving a life imprisonment while the 

mahant was arrested and put behind bars for three years. Alternatively,

 there were also rumours that the mahant had raped Elokeshi on the

 pretext of helping her out with "fertility issues".  This case was really 

important for that time period because this was seen by the society as 

one of those moments where the British rulers meddled in the affairs of 

the Bengali bhadralok and a temple priest, something that was very rare

 back in those days.

10. Vishakha and Others vs. State of Rajasthan (1997)

Before the Vishakha Guidelines came in, the workplace was

 dangerous for many women especially in case of sexual harassment. 

In 1992, Bhanwari Devi was gang-raped by upper caste men in her

 village because she tried to raise her voice against child-marriage. 

Due to gross negligence, the vaginal swabs collected from her body 

were taken 48 hours after the incident. Ideally, it should be done so 

within 24 hours. Shockingly, the judge presiding over her case 

(this was the seventh judge after six others were removed) acquitted 

the accused, even going so far to say, "Since the offenders were upper-

caste men and included a brahmin, the rape could not have taken place

 because Bhanwari was from a lower caste." Following the outrage over

 this acquittal, Vishakha and some other women's groups filed a PIL against

 the State of Rajasthan and the Union of India, forcing the latter to adopt the

 Vishakha Guidelines which now protects working women all over the country. 

 

These are just a few cases that were important and/or influential 

in India's history. 

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