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Drishti Gudhaka

Associate in Disputes Practice at the Mumbai office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Drishti can be reached at drishti.gudhaka@cyrilshroff.com

Corporate Criminal Liability: Supreme Court Lays Down a Three-Stage Framework for Attributing Mens REA to Companies

Summary: The article examines the Supreme Court’s decision in Sanofi India Ltd. v. Central Bureau of Investigation, which lays down a three-stage framework for determining when a natural person’s act and mens rea may be attributed to a company. The judgment is significant because it brings structure to a previously unsettled area of corporate criminal liability and makes a company’s decision-making authority, delegation framework and transaction-specific governance record central to the attribution analysis.

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When Food-Safety Enforcement Reaches the Boardroom: Director Liability Under the FSS Act

Summary: Heightened food-safety enforcement is bringing renewed attention to the personal exposure of directors and senior management. A series of High Court decisions in 2026 illustrates the boundaries of liability under Section 66 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The emerging position rejects both extremes: directorship alone does not establish criminal liability, while the appointment of a nominated food-safety officer does not necessarily insulate directors where the alleged contravention is attributable to their consent, connivance, or neglect. For boards, the significance increasingly lies in how responsibility is allocated, how significant food-safety concerns are escalated and how senior management eventually responds to these concerns.

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