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Supreme Court of India2 April 20262026 INSC 315

Shankar v. State of Rajasthan

Bench of 2 · Justice Sanjay Karol, Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh

Why it matters

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Defence counsel challenging dying declarations in bride-burning or domestic homicide cases on grounds of the declarant's fitness or alleged tutoring will find this judgment a strong precedent against such challenges where a magistrate-recorded declaration is backed by a medical fitness certificate and consistent post-mortem/medical evidence; the Court also signals continued judicial intolerance for patriarchal domestic violence through its detailed postscript on the persistence of crimes against women.

Summary

Shankar was convicted by the Sessions Judge, Bundi for murdering his wife Sugna Bai — married barely a month before her death — by beating her, locking her in a room, pouring kerosene over her and setting her on fire. She died on 19.10.2012 from septicaemia due to burns. The Trial Court sentenced him to life imprisonment under Section 302 IPC and one year's rigorous imprisonment under Section 342 IPC. The Rajasthan High Court confirmed the conviction and sentence. Shankar approached the Supreme Court by way of criminal appeal seeking to overturn the concurrent findings.

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal. The Court reiterated that interference with concurrent findings of conviction is permissible only where the courts below committed manifest errors in law, misdirected themselves in appreciating evidence, or completely missed crucial pieces of evidence. None of those conditions were satisfied here. The dying declaration (Exhibit P.20), recorded by an ACJM in question-and-answer form after a medical fitness certificate was obtained from the duty doctor, was found consistent, believable and free of tutoring. The Court rejected the appellant's challenge that the deceased was not in a fit mental state to give the declaration, noting that the ACJM (PW-12) and the duty doctor (PW-15) both confirmed her competence. The allegation that the deceased's parents tutored her was dismissed as a bald assertion unsupported by any material in examination-in-chief or cross-examination. Although two eyewitnesses (PW-2 and PW-3) turned hostile, the Court held that the consistency of the dying declaration with the medical evidence of PW-9 and PW-10 — both of whom confirmed death by septicaemia due to burning — rendered that hostility inconsequential.

The Court, in a notable postscript, surveyed the legislative and judicial landscape on crimes against women — from the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 and Section 498A IPC to Shayara Bano, Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma, Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar and Shakti Vahini v. Union of India — and observed that despite sustained legal reform, NCRB data records over 4.48 lakh crimes against women in 2023 and dowry-related violence claims over 6,000 lives annually, pointing to a paradox where macro-level legal progress coexists with entrenched patriarchal violence at the grassroots.

Key principle

A dying declaration that is consistent, believable and free of tutoring, and is corroborated by consistent medical evidence, is sufficient to sustain a conviction even where eyewitnesses have turned hostile; interference with concurrent findings of conviction is permissible only upon a showing of manifest error in law, misdirection in appreciation of evidence, or complete omission of crucial evidence.

Holding

Dismissed — concurrent conviction under Section 302 IPC upheld on the basis of a dying declaration corroborated by medical evidence, there being no manifest error in law or appreciation of evidence by the courts below.

Statutes invoked

  • Evidence Act, 1872 · 32
  • Bhartiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 · 26
  • IPC · 302
  • IPC · 342
  • CrPC · 313

Practice areas

criminal
AI-generated summary, written by Claude Sonnet 4.6 from the court's published judgment. Always verify the original before relying on the summary in court. Generated on 21 May 2026.