#civil evidence

The Kerala High Court ruled that gold ornaments and cash gifted during marriage can be reclaimed if proven misused, even in the absence of formal entrustment - establishing that delivery and subsequent diversion for personal use suffice to create a legal obligation to return. This clarifies the evidentiary standard for spouses seeking recovery of marital gifts in breakdowns, empowering petitioners to rely on circumstantial proof over contractual formalities.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has ruled that a certified copy of an FIR, already declared false by a criminal court, lacks evidentiary value and cannot be admitted in a civil suit under CPC Order VIII Rule 14(3), regardless of belated filing. This reinforces that judicial integrity trumps procedural leniency when documents are fundamentally unreliable, affecting litigants seeking to rely on tainted police records in property disputes.