Supreme Court of India

Machhl Singh and Others v. State of Punjab

Neutral citation

Bench S. Murtaza Fazal Ali, A. Varadarajan and M.P. Thakkar JJ.

Decided 20 July 1983

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.

60 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

I: Appeals preferred by appellant Mohinder Singh being Crl. Appeals Nos. Crl. 79/81 & 86 of 1981 are allowed. The order of conviction and sentence passed by the lower courts in so far as he is concerned are set aside. He shall be set at liberty forthwith unless he is required to be detained in connection with some other offence or in connection with some other orders authorizing his detention. II: In regard to the rest of the appeals by the rest of the appellants the orders of conviction and sentence passed by the lower courts are confirmed and all the appeals shall stand dismissed. The sentence of imprisonment under various counts and sentence imposed on the concerned appellant in allied appeals will run concurrently. III: The death sentence imposed on the appellants named hereafter viz (i) Machhi Singh (ii) Kashmir Singh s/o Arjan Singh; (iii) Jagir Singh, having been confirmed, the sentence shall be executed in accordance with law.

Judgment, pp. 436-437

From the headnote

Penal Code (Act 45 of 1860), Section 302-Sentence-Imposition of death sentence-"Rarest of rare cases formula"-Guidelines to be adopted in identification of rarest of rare cases, explained-Evidence Act (Act 1 of 1872) Section 9-Witnesses identifying culprits in the light shed by lantern-Appreciation of-Dying declaration, non-recording of-Evidentiary value-Doctrine of benefit of doubt, when to be invoked. feud between two families has resulted in tragic consequences.…

Authorities it was built on

Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab

Where later benches applied it

2025 Akhtar Ali @ Ali Akhtar @ Shamim @ Raja Ustad v. State of Uttarakhand relied on
2023 Madan v. State of Uttar Pradesh relied on
2022 Mohd. Firoz v. State of Madhya Pradesh relied on
2022 Pappu v. The State of Uttar Pradesh relied on
2021 Lochan Shrivas v. The State of Chhattisgarh relied on
2019 Ishwari Lal Yadav v. State of Chhattisgarh relied on
2019 Manoharan v. State by Inspector of Police, Variety Hall Police Station, Coimbatore relied on
2019 Dattatraya @ Datta Ambo Rokade v. The State of Maharashtra relied on
2019 Md Mannan @ Abdul Mannan v. State of Bihar relied on
2018 Chhannu Lal Verma v. The State of Chhattisgarh relied on
2017 Vasanta Sampat Dupare v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2015 Shabnam v. State of U. P. relied on
2015 Purushotiam Dashrath Borate &anr. v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2015 State of U.P. v. Om Prakash relied on
2014 Vasant Sampat Dupare v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2014 Amar Singh Yadav v. State of U.P. relied on
2014 Laut Kumar Yadav @ Kuri v. State of Utiar Pradesh relied on
2014 Anil @ Anthony Arikswamy Joseph v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2013 Madhu @ Madhuranatha & Anr. v. State of Karnataka relied on
2013 State of Rajasthan v. Jamil Khan relied on
2013 Deepak Rai v. State of Bihar relied on
2013 Sunil Damodar Gaikwad v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2013 Md. Ishaque and Others v. State of West Bengal and Others relied on
2013 Shankar Kisanrao Khade v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2013 Gurvail Singh @ Gala & Another v. State of Punjab relied on
2013 Mohinder Singh v. State of Punjab relied on
2012 Oma @ Omprakash and Anr. v. State of Tamil Nadu relied on
2012 Mohammed Ajmal Mohammad Amir Kasab @ Abu Mujahid v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2012 Neel Kumar @ Anil Kumar v. The State of Haryana relied on
2012 Ramnaresh & Ors. v. State of Chhattisgarh relied on
2011 Ajitsingh Harnamsingh Gujral v. State of Maharashtra relied on
2011 Mohd. Arif @ Ashfaq v. State of Nct of Delhi relied on
2011 State of Maharashtra v. Goraksha Ambaji Adsul relied on
2010 C. Muniappan & Ors. v. State of Tamil Nadu relied on
2019 Yogendra @ Jogendra Singh v. The State of Madhya Pradesh followed
2025 Sukhdev Yadav @ Pehalwan v. State of (nct of Delhi) & Others referred to
2024 Navas @ Mulanavas v. State of Kerala referred to
2023 Vikas Chaudhary v. The State of Delhi referred to
2021 Bhagchandra v. State of Madhya Pradesh referred to
2021 Hari & Anr. v. The State of Uttar Pradesh referred to
2020 Manoj Suryavanshi v. State of Chhattisgarh referred to
2019 H Manoharan v. State by Inspector of Police, Variety Hall Police Station, Coimbatore (review Petition (crl.) Nos.446-447 of 2019) in referred to
2019 Ravishankar @ Baba Vishwakarma v. The State of Madhya Pradesh referred to
2019 Ravi S/o Ashok Ghumare v. The State of Maharashtra referred to
2017 Vikram Singh @ Vicky Walia and Anr. v. State of Punjab and Anr. referred to
2017 Mukesh & Anr. v. State for Nct of Delhi & Ors. referred to
2016 Vikas Yadav v. State of U.P. and Ors. Etc. Etc. referred to
2015 Union of India v. V. Sriharan @ Murugan & Ors. referred to
2014 Mofil Khan & Anr. v. State of Jharkhand referred to
2014 Santosh Kumar Singh v. State of Madhya Pradesh referred to
2014 Birju v. State of M.P. referred to
2014 Shatrughan Chauhan & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2013 Sunil Dutt Sharma v. State (govt. of Nct of Delhi) referred to
2013 Sushil Sharma v. The State of N.C.T. of Delhi referred to
2013 Vyas Ram @ Vyas Kahar & Ors. v. State of Bihar referred to
2013 Mahendra Nath Das v. Union of India and Others referred to
2013 Kanhaiya Lal & Ors. v. State of Rajasthan referred to
2013 Devender Pal Singh Bhullar v. State of N.C.T. of Delhi referred to
2012 Sangeet & Anr. v. State of Haryana referred to
2013 Sanaullah Khan v. State of Bihar mentioned

Of those, 34 relied on · 1 followed · 24 referred to · 1 mentioned

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

An email address, no password.