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Nikhil Varshney

Partner in the Disputes, White Collar and Investigations practice at the Delhi - NCR office of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Nikhil handles general commercial litigation and sensitive criminal matters and investigations for domestic and international clients. He also has an expertise in handling internal investigations regarding a wide range of issues relating to bribery, ethics and integrity, misconduct, financial irregularities and fraud. He can be reached at nikhil.varshney@cyrilshroff.com.

Unsettling the balance: analysing the Import of section 167(2) OF CRPC.

The debate around the interpretation of Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“CrPC”), as regards timing of police custody has reawakened since the Supreme Court in V. Senthil Balaji vs. State represented by Deputy Director & Ors.[1]; 2023 SCC Online SC 934(“Senthil Balaji Case”), sought to re-examine the position. In the course of assessing the import of Section 167(2) of CrPC, the Supreme Court has raised doubts on the otherwise settled position of law laid down in the Central Bureau of Investigation vs. Anupam J. Kulkarni[2];(1992) 3 SCC 141, later concurred by a Full Bench of the Supreme Court in Budh Singh vs. State of Punjab; (2000) 9 SCC 266. The Supreme Court has referred the matter to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for appropriate orders to form a larger bench.

Continue Reading Unsettling the balance: Analysing the Import of Section 167(2) of CRPC.
Significance of Providing Un-Relied Documents to Accused An Indicator of a Fair Trial

One of the key facets of the criminal law regime is that an individual/ entity should be given a fair and transparent trial. Sections 207 and 208 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (“CrPC”) are in furtherance to the said principle, which relate to providing copies of police report and other documents to accused persons.

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