Supreme Court of India

Ravishankar @ Baba Vishwakarma v. The State of Madhya Pradesh

Neutral citation
Reported as [2019] 14 S.C.R. 285
Bench R. F. Nariman, R. Subhash Reddy and Surya Kant JJ.
Decided 3 October 2019

INSC stands for INDIAN SUPREME COURT. A neutral citation scheme assigned by the Court itself, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter. INSC is the neutral citation scheme assigned by the Supreme Court, so a judgment can be cited without depending on a commercial law reporter.

3 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

For the reasons aforesaid, the appeal is allowed in part to the extent that the death penalty as awarded by the courts below is set aside and is substituted with the imprisonment for life with a direction that no remission shall be granted to the appellant and he shall remain in prison for the rest of his life.

Judgment, page 27

From the headnote

Sentence/Sentencing: Rape/murder of minor – Convict ion based on circumstantial evidence – Imposition of death sent ence – Held: There is no absolute principle of law that no death sente nce can be awarded in a case where conviction is based on circumstantial evidence – Such a standard would be ripe for abuse by seasoned criminals who always make sure to destroy direct evidence – Further, in many cases of rape and murder of children, the victims owing to their tender age can put up no resistance – In such cases, it is extremely likely that there would be no ocular evidence – It ca nnot,

Where later benches applied it

Of those, 2 relied on · 1 referred to

Sign in free to read it

  • The full judgment, page by page, as published in the Supreme Court Reports
  • The ratio: what the Court held, verbatim, with the page it sits on
  • Every bench that relied on it, and every bench that argued against it
  • Search every reported judgment, by party, citation or question
  • Download the PDF, copy pinpoint citations ready for a filing
Sign in to read - for free

An email address, no password.