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Supreme Court Criminal Digest (2011 to 2023) / सुप्रीम कोर्ट क्रिमिनल डाईजेस्ट (2011 से 2023) by Vidhi Madan, LL.M. (NLU), published by Vashisht Publications — Diglot Edition / द्विभाषी संस्करण, the text in both English and Hindi. 1st Edition, 1040 pages, hardbound.

A criminal trial is argued on authority. The question is almost never what the section says — it is whether the dying declaration here is of the kind the Supreme Court has accepted without corroboration, whether this chain of circumstances meets the standard the Court has laid down, whether these omissions in the investigation are fatal or curable. Counsel who can produce the ruling on the point, at the moment it is needed, argues from a different position than counsel who cannot.

This digest collects the Supreme Court's criminal decisions across thirteen years, from 2011 to 2023, arranged by subject so the authority can be found quickly. Its distinguishing feature is the diglot format: the material runs in English and Hindi together, which matters in the trial courts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, where proceedings are conducted in Hindi while the reported judgments are in English.

Key Features / विशेषताएँ

• Diglot edition (द्विभाषी संस्करण) — English and Hindi in one volume
• Thirteen years of Supreme Court criminal decisions, 2011 to 2023
• Subject-wise arrangement for rapid reference in court
• Compiled by Vidhi Madan, LL.M. (National Law University)
• 1040 pages, hardbound
• Published by Vashisht Publications

Coverage / विषय-वस्तु

General Principles of Criminal Liability. Mens rea and actus reus, common intention and common object, abetment, criminal conspiracy, attempt, and the general exceptions including the right of private defence and unsoundness of mind.

Offences Against the Human Body. Culpable homicide and murder and the distinction between them, the exceptions reducing murder to culpable homicide, death by negligence, hurt and grievous hurt, kidnapping and abduction.

Offences Against Women. Rape and the appreciation of the prosecutrix's evidence, cruelty by husband or relatives, dowry death and the statutory presumption, outraging modesty, and offences under the POCSO Act.

Offences Against Property. Theft, extortion, robbery and dacoity, criminal breach of trust, cheating, receiving stolen property, forgery and criminal trespass.

Investigation. The FIR and delay in lodging it, the powers and duties of the investigating officer, arrest and remand, recovery and the memorandum, test identification parade, and the effect of defective investigation.

Evidence and Its Appreciation. Circumstantial evidence and the chain of circumstances, dying declarations, confessions and their limits, hostile witnesses, interested and related witnesses, expert and medical evidence and its conflict with ocular testimony, electronic evidence, and the appreciation of contradictions and omissions.

Trial and Procedure. Cognizance, framing and alteration of charge, discharge, joinder of charges, examination of the accused, the summoning of additional accused, and quashing of proceedings.

Bail. Regular, anticipatory and default bail, the considerations governing grant and refusal, conditions, and cancellation.

Sentencing. Principles of sentencing, the death penalty and the rarest of rare doctrine, mitigating and aggravating circumstances, remission and commutation, probation, and victim compensation.

Appeals and Revision. Appeal against conviction and against acquittal and the scope of interference, revision, suspension of sentence, and the powers of the appellate court.

Special Statutes. Decisions under the NDPS Act, the Prevention of Corruption Act, the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the Negotiable Instruments Act and the other special criminal laws.

Who Should Buy This Book? / यह पुस्तक किनके लिए है?

• Criminal advocates — defence and prosecution — in trial and appellate practice
• Practitioners in the Hindi-speaking States who argue in Hindi from English reports
• Public prosecutors and law officers
• Judicial officers and candidates for judicial service and APO examinations
• Police and investigating officers, and training academies
• LL.B. and LL.M. students, and teachers of criminal law
• Bar association, court and law college libraries

Why Choose This Book? / यह पुस्तक क्यों?

The diglot format is the reason to prefer this over an English-only digest. A lawyer in a Hindi-medium trial court reads judgments in English and argues in Hindi, and having the propositions available in both languages removes a translation step that otherwise happens under pressure, in open court.

The second reason is the span. Thirteen years is long enough for the pattern of the Court's thinking to show — on circumstantial evidence, on dying declarations, on when an acquittal will be interfered with — rather than a single year's snapshot.

The third is practicality. At 1040 pages arranged by subject, it is built to be opened at the right page during a hearing rather than read through. For a criminal practitioner, that is what a digest is for.