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10 Most Famous Trials in India.

India is a country in Asia with a population of about 1.38 billion people. The more the people the more the character traits there are. The wrong dowers are dealt with by the police officers. The extreme criminals are taken to courts for conviction.

There are 32 judges including the chief justice. The lawyers in the country are about 1.8 million. One lawyer represents 736 people. The courts in India are divided into four types. Supreme, high, district, and subordinate courts. The high courts are 25 in number.

There is only one Supreme Court. After victims are found guilty, they are distributed among the 1350 prisons of the county. Statistics conducted by National Crime Records Bureau in 2020 showed that there are about 488,500 prisoners in the country.

The courts have housed several cases of all kinds. Some people who were accused defend successfully and win. Others are found guilty thus being the guest of one of the prisons. Some of the proceedings demand public opinions.

In several instances, trials have led to adjustments in particular laws like the rape cases. The democracy of India is highly valued. The citizens have a chance to fight for their rights against the government.

The following are some famous trials of India.

1. K.M. Nanavati’s Trial

It was a case of K. M. Nanavati against the State of Maharashtra. The case was the last time India had a jury trial. Navarati was a naval officer. He was being convicted for killing his wife, Prem Ahuja.

After the accused pleading not guilty, the jury had to come in for a decision. Holding the jury trial was aimed to decide the kind of punishment Navarati should face. This could only be between carrying ten years in prison for a crime of passion or life imprisonment for premeditated murder.

However, the jury ruled in his favor. The verdict was dismissed by the Bombay High Court. Long last, the case was retried as a bench trial.

2. Ram Bahadur Thapa

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The case was denoted as the State of Orissa against Ram Bahadur. He was a servant of J. B. Chatterjee Bros. firm in Calcutta, India. He was accused of killing a woman, Mahiani, and injuring the other two.

On a business trip in Balasore, he wanted to see ‘ghosts’ that were believed to be in an abandoned aerodrome that they intended to buy. At night, as they made their way to the aerodrome, flickering light was seen within the premises. There was a strong wind which made the light seem to move.

He thought that those were ghosts. Thapa jumped into action using his khukri. Unfortunately, the lights were with women who were collecting flowers around. The judge in charge of the case declared that he did all that because of his stern belief in ghosts.

3. Mathura’s Rape Trial

Other than being infamous, it is one of the most important cases. Mathura was raped by two constables within the premises of the Desai Ganj Police Station. The judge found the accused not guilty. The case led to a major change in the rape laws in India.

The reason behind this conclusion was that Mathura was habituated to sexual intercourse. According to the judge, this implied that sexual activity in the police station was consensual.

The amendments to the law that were forced by Protestants proved that submission is not consent.

4. Kesavananda Bharti’s Trial

The accused ran a Hindu Mutt in Edneer village in Kerala. The state wanted to appropriate the land. After being consulted by a noted jurist, Bharti filed a petition claiming that a religious institution had the right to run its business without governmental interference.

A bench of 13 judges deliberated on the facts of the case. It was based on Article 31 states ‘no person shall deprive of the personal property by authority of law’. Through a narrow majority formulated the Basic Structure Doctrine.

This left the judgment to act as the big middle finger to the central government. This case can stand a chance to give India a firm ‘world’s largest democracy’ title.

5. NALSA’s Trial

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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. Ahmed Khan against Shah Begum

An old mother, Shah Begum was divorced by her husband, Ahmed Khan. She filed a criminal suit against him in the Supreme Court and claimed alimony, which was then granted to her.

However, the Islamic orthodoxy protested the judgment 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 which diluted the Supreme Court judgment.

It also denied destitute Muslim divorcees the right to alimony from their ex-husbands. This case is regularly mentioned during talks about the ‘Uniform Civil Code’ in the country.

7. Lal Bihari Identity Case

His uncle had bribed government officials to declare him dead to inherit their ancestral land. Once Bahari 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.

As of now, he heads an organization that tries to handle similar identity cases for people who have been officially declared dead but are still alive.

8. Bhawal Case

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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 the Bhawal Estate.

Ramendra, the second Kumar of the Bhawal estate died in the early 20th century, but there were rumors about him not being dead.

A sannyasi who looked 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 believed him other than Ramendra’s widow. There was a long legal process involving two trials where both sides attempted to prove their claims.

The court finally ruled in his favor, but soon after that, he passed away due to a stroke he had suffered a couple of days earlier.

9. Tarakeswar Case

Nobin Chandra slit the throat of his 16-year old wife, Elokeshi, who was having an affair with the mahant of the local Tarakeswar temple. Even though he 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 life imprisonment while the mahant was arrested and put behind bars for three years.

Alternatively, there were also rumors that the mahant had raped Elokeshi on the pretext of helping her out with “fertility issues”.

This case was really important for that period because this was seen by society as one of those moments where the British rulers meddled in the affairs of the Bengali bhadralok and a temple priest.

10. Vishakha and Other’s Trial

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 acquitted the accused saying, since the offenders were upper-caste men and included a Brahmin, the rape could not have taken place for 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. It forced the latter to adopt the Vishakha Guidelines which now protects working women all over the country.

The above are some of the most famous trials in India. The court proceedings of some cases seem to change the laws of the country. However, all the efforts made by judges via the book are to enhance justice for all.

India can be said to have the best democracy where the citizens stand a chance to make decisions as well as fight for their rights.