Supreme Court of India

D.K. Basu v. State of West Bengal

Neutral citation

Bench Kuldip Singh and Dr. A.S. Anand JJ.

Decided 18 December 1996

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.

41 Supreme Court benches have cited this judgment.

What the Court ordered

Petition disposed of.

Judgment, p. 320

From the headnote

Constitution of India, 1950 : Articles 21, 22 and 32. Custodial violence-Torture, rape and death in police custody/lock-up-Infringes Art. 21 as well as basic human rights and strikes a blow at rule of law-Torture involved not only physical suffering but also mental agony-It was naked violation of human dignity and destruction of human personality-Interrogation must be sustained and scientific-Third-degree methods would be impermissible--Balanced approach needed to meet ends of justice so that criminals did not go scot-free-Custodial deaths was one of the worst crimes in civilised society…

Authorities it was built on

1993 Smt. Nilabati Behera Alias Laut Behera (through the Supreme Court Legal Aid Committee) v. State of Orissa and Ors. cited by 55
1995 State of Madhya Pradesh v. Shyamsunder Trivedi and Ors. cited by 20

Where later benches applied it

2025 Mahabir & Ors. v. State of Haryana relied on
2024 Satyanand Singh v. Union of India & Ors. relied on
2020 Union of India v. Ashok Kumar Sharma and Others relied on
2018 Romila Thapar and Ors. v. Union of India and Ors. relied on
2018 Social Action Forum for Manav Adhikar and Another v. Union of India Ministry of Law and Justice and Others relied on
2018 Navtej Singh Johar & Ors. v. Union of India Thr. Secretary Ministry of Law and Justice relied on
2018 Dr. Subhash Kashinath Mahajan v. The State of Maharashtra and Anr. relied on
2017 Ms. Z v. The State of Bihar and Others relied on
2016 Re- Inhuman Conditions in 1382 Prisons (ji) v.. relied on
2016 Dr. Rini Johar & Anr. v. State of M.P. & Ors. relied on
2013 Jitendra Singh @ Babboo Singh & Anr. v. State of U.P. relied on
2011 Delhi Jal Board v. National Campaign for Dignity and Rights of Sewerage and Allied Workers & Others relied on
2025 Khursheed Ahmad Chohan v. Union of Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ors. Etc. referred to
2025 Union of India Thr. I.O. Narcotics Control Bureau v. Man Singh Verma referred to
2024 Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2024 Sukanya Shantha v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2023 Maghavendra Pratap Singh @ Pankaj Singh v. State of Chhattisgarh referred to
2023 Kaushal Kishor v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. referred to
2022 Vijay Madanlal Choudhary & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors. referred to
2022 Sanjay Gupta & Ors v. State of Uttar Pradesh through its Chief Secretary & Ors referred to
2020 Tofan Singh v. State of Tamil Nadu referred to
2019 Dr. Ashwani Kumar v. Union of India and Another referred to
2018 Amol Vitthalrao Kadu v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. referred to
2018 S. Nambi Narayanan v. Siby Mathews & Others Etc. referred to
2018 Tehseen S. Poonawalla v. Union of India and Others referred to
2017 Monica Kumar & Anr. v. State of U.P. & Ors. referred to
2016 Savelife Foundation & Anr. v. Union of India & Anr. referred to
2015 Union of India v. V. Sriharan @ Murugan & Ors. referred to
2015 K.A. Kotrappa Reddy and Anr. v. Rayara Manjunatha Reddy@n.r. Manjunatha & Ors. referred to
2015 Dilip K. Basu v. State of West Bengal & Ors. referred to
2014 People's Union for Civil Liberties & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra & Ors. referred to
2014 Manoj Narula v. Union of India referred to
2013 Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of U.P. and Ors. referred to
2013 Urmila Devi v. Yudhvir Singh referred to
2013 Chairman, Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation & Ors. v. Smt. Santosh & Ors. referred to
2012 Mohammed Ajmal Mohammad Amir Kasab @ Abu Mujahid v. State of Maharashtra referred to
2012 In Re: Ramlila Maidan Incident Dt.4/5.06.2011 v. Home Secretary, Union of India & Ors. referred to
2011 State of Maharashtra v. Goraksha Ambaji Adsul referred to
2011 Senior Intelligence Officer v. Jugal Kishore Samra referred to
2013 Suresh Kumar Koushal and Another v. Naz Foundation and Others mentioned
2022 Pappu v. The State of Uttar Pradesh not applicable

Of those, 12 relied on · 27 referred to · 1 mentioned · 1 not applicable

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