# Roshan Lal and Others v. State of Punjab

HTML version: [https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-1964-0001](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-1964-0001)

## Report card

By judgment dated 3 December 1964 in Appeal (Crl.) No. 197 of 1964, the Supreme Court of India (Coram: A.K. Sarkar, N. Rajagopala Ayyangar, R.S. Bachawat, JJ.) affirmed the conviction of 3 police personnel, namely: Roshan Lal (Sub-Inspector, Station House Officer); Lachhman Singh (Assistant Sub-Inspector); Kulwant Rai (Foot Constable).

- Register number: PB 04 CW 0001
- Case reference: Appeal (Crl.) No. 197 of 1964 / AIR 1965 SC 1413
- Court and date: Supreme Court of India (Coram: A.K. Sarkar, N. Rajagopala Ayyangar, R.S. Bachawat, JJ.), 3 December 1964
- Officer(s) at the material time: Roshan Lal (Sub-Inspector, Station House Officer); Lachhman Singh (Assistant Sub-Inspector); Kulwant Rai (Foot Constable)
- Present service status: Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked: Section 330 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Section 330/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Section 348 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Section 201 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860
- Finding of the Court (extract): “In the result, the appeal is allowed in part, and the sentences passed on the appellants for the offence u/s 201 of the Indian Penal Code are reduced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and nine months. In other respects, …” (at para 19)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum: Conviction upheld. Sentence: imprisonment.
- Present status of the proceedings: No further proceedings are recorded in the cited sources; the judgment is the concluded position shown.
- Source orders: [Judgment / order (primary source)](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1735477/); [Permanent link to this record](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-1964-0001)

**Record:** CW-1964-0001 (compiler id CWC-0509); case SWILLEGA-002
**Title:** Roshan Lal and Others v. State of Punjab
**Court:** Supreme Court of India; judges: A.K. Sarkar; N. Rajagopala Ayyangar; R.S. Bachawat
**Case number / citation:** Appeal (Crl.) No. 197 of 1964 / AIR 1965 SC 1413
**Judgment:** 1964-12-03 (1964, day precision)
**Incident date:** 1961-12-24 (1961)
**Place:** Faridkot, Punjab (district at time: Bathinda (then Bhatinda)); city town: Jaito; police station or unit: Jaito Police Station; force: state_police
**Category:** Violence & unlawful detention
**Sub-category:** custodial death
**Outcome:** Conviction upheld (conviction_upheld)
**Sections:** IPC 330; IPC 330/34; IPC 348; IPC 201
**Officers (gated display forms):** Roshan Lal (Sub-Inspector, Station House Officer); Lachhman Singh (Assistant Sub-Inspector); Kulwant Rai (Foot Constable) (3 in record)
**Victims:** Jaito man (1 in record)
**Sentence / compensation:** imprisonment
**Sentence type:** imprisonment (imprisonment)

The Supreme Court affirmed the Punjab High Court's reversal of the trial acquittal of three Jaito policemen for the custodial death of opium suspect \[name withheld\]. Arrested on 24 December 1961, a Jaito man was beaten at his house and again overnight in the police station to extort a confession, found dead the next morning, and his body burnt with the bones ground and thrown in a canal. The High Court had convicted SHO Roshan Lal under Sections 330, 330/34 and 348 IPC and all three under Section 201 IPC with consecutive three-year terms. With special leave confined to the Section 201 term, the Supreme Court reduced it to one year and nine months' rigorous imprisonment and affirmed the judgment in all other respects. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

> In the result, the appeal is allowed in part, and the sentences passed on the appellants for the offence u/s 201 of the Indian Penal Code are reduced to rigorous imprisonment for one year and nine months. In other respects, the judgment under appeal is affirmed.

**Sources (2):** [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1735477/); [courtkutchehry.com](https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/642981/roshan-lal-and-others-appellant-hash-state-of-punjab-respondent/)
**Verification:** V2 · Externally reported
**Review:** Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded
**admin category:** brutality
**admin subcategory:** custodial_death
**allegations:** {'category': 'Custodial death', 'primary': True, 'position': 'Material fact supported', 'position_explainer': 'Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.', 'official_finding_relation': 'supports allegation'}
**anonymised:** False
**court quote para:** 19
**display title redacted:** Roshan Lal and Others v. State of Punjab
**followup history:** {'date': '2026-09-19', 'scope': 'Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass', 'method': 'skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl)', 'result': 'holds', 'corrections_applied': \['court_quote_para'\]}
**followup status:** checked
**institutional response:** {'date': None, 'action_type': 'Conviction', 'status': 'Concluded', 'authority': 'Trial court (as recorded in the Supreme Court of India judgment)', 'independence': 'External', 'legal_effect': 'Binding', 'description': 'The trial court convicted the accused police personnel, as recorded in the Supreme Court of India judgment.', 'disposition': 'Conviction · Supports allegation', 'source': 'AIR 1965 SC 1413', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}; {'date': '1964-12-03', 'action_type': 'Order issued', 'status': 'Concluded', 'authority': 'Supreme Court of India', 'independence': 'External', 'legal_effect': 'Binding', 'description': 'The Supreme Court of India dismissed the appeal and upheld the convictions of police personnel.', 'disposition': 'Conviction · Supports allegation (appellate affirmance; trial conviction separate card)', 'source': 'AIR 1965 SC 1413', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}
**last checked:** 2026-09-19
**link checked per url:** {'url': 'https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1735477/', 'link_checked': None}; {'url': 'https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/642981/roshan-lal-and-others-appellant-hash-state-of-punjab-respondent/', 'link_checked': None}
**retracted:** {"is_retracted": false}
**service:** police
**source assessment:** {"established": null, "basis": null}
**status:** current
**subcategory display:** custodial death
**tier:** Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded
**tier badge:** Externally reported
**tier history:** Tier A — Externally reported or officially recorded
**verdict:** accept
**verdict note:** Supreme Court affirmed Punjab HC's reversal of acquittal, upholding torture/confinement/evidence-destruction convictions of SHO and 2 policemen for custodial death of a Jaito man; reduced only s.201 term to 1y9m. Subcategory corrected to custodial_death.
**verification badge:** V2 · Externally reported
**verification status:** V2
**watch:** babuwatch

Status: Conviction upheld.

[Open CW-1964-0001](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-1964-0001)