Supreme Court Restores Murder Conviction in Rameela v State of Rajasthan

Supreme Court Restores Murder Conviction in 16-Day Stabbing Death

The Supreme Court of India restored the trial court's murder conviction in Special Case No. 50 of 2021 on the appeal filed by Rameela, wife of late Mahendra. The order dated 5 November 2026 was passed by Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Manmohan in SLP (Crl.) No. 18612 of 2026.

Respondent No. 2 had faced trial before the Special Judge under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The charges against him were under section 302 IPC and Section 3(2)(v) of the 1989 Act. The prosecution case recorded in the order was that he came armed with a knife to the house of the deceased, picked up an altercation and inflicted stab wounds. The injured man remained in hospital and died after more than two weeks.

At trial, the court convicted the accused for murder and imposed life imprisonment with fine. On 18.05.2026, the Rajasthan High Court at Jodhpur in Criminal Appeal No. 253 of 2024 altered that conviction to Section 304 Part II. The deceased's wife, the de facto complainant, then moved the Supreme Court against the alteration.

High Court's delayed-death logic rejected

The High Court had taken the view that the gap between the attack and the death showed absence of intention to cause death. Its judgment could also be read as holding that septicemia, recorded as the cause of death in the post-mortem, was not the direct result of the injuries. The Supreme Court said the High Court had committed an egregious error in taking that approach.

Maniklal Sahu v. State of Chhattisgarh, 2025 news reports SC 1960, was cited as settling the issue. There the Court had said intended injuries sufficient to cause death in the ordinary course of nature remain murder even when septicaemia or other complications follow. The chance that skilful medical treatment might have prevented death was termed wholly irrelevant where the supervening cause flowed from the original injuries.

On these facts, the bench observed that septicemia, if the cause of death, was a result of nothing but the stab wounds. It held the death was the direct result of the injuries inflicted by the accused and therefore murder punishable under the relevant provision of the Indian Penal Code, 1860.

Leave was granted and the appeal was allowed. The High Court's judgment was set aside and the trial court's judgment of conviction and sentence was restored. Pending applications, if any, stood disposed of.