<P> Commander K.M. Nanavati vs. State of Maharashtra was a 1959 Indian court case where Commander Kawas Manekshaw Nanavati , a Naval Commander , was tried for the murder of Prem Ahuja , his wife 's lover . The incident received unprecedented media coverage and inspired several books and films such as the 1973 film Achanak and 2016 film Rustom . Commander Nanavati , accused under section 302 , was initially declared not guilty by a jury , but the verdict was dismissed by the Bombay High Court and the case was retried as a bench trial . This was among the last cases to be heard as a jury trial in India , as the government abolished jury trials soon after in most cases except for Parsis who still have Jury Trials for their Matrimonial Disputes . Nanavati was finally pardoned by Vijayalakshmi Pandit , newly appointed Governor of Bombay and sister of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru . </P>
when was the jury system abolished in india
1959