18 Jan 1985
Order issued
ConcludedThe Supreme Court of India entered convictions against police personnel in this judgment.
Conviction · Supports allegation.
Source: (1985) 1 SCC 552; AIR 1985 SC 416
Not yet re-checked.
CW-1985-0001Fatehpur, Uttar PradeshJudgment 18 January 1985
State of Uttar Pradesh v. Ram Sagar Yadav and Ors.
The judgment of the Supreme Court of India records the following account. A Fatehpur man of village Haibatpur lodged a complaint with the Superintendent of Police, Fatehpur, against Constable for extorting a bribe in a cattle trespass dispute. In retaliation, Station House Officer Ram Sagar Yadav dispatched two constables to arrest a Fatehpur man on a trumped-up dacoity charge on 29 August 1969, where he was mercilessly beaten inside Hussainganj Police Station. When brought in a collapsed state to the Additional District Magistrate for remand, a Fatehpur man made a dying declaration naming the Darogah and constables before succumbing to nineteen injuries later that evening. The Sessions Judge convicted the SHO and three constables under Section 304 Part II IPC (and the SHO under Section 220 IPC), but the Allahabad High Court acquitted them. The Supreme Court reversed the High Court acquittal and affirmed the convictions and sentences, holding the dying declaration unimpeachable and famously recommending that the legislature amend the law on the burden of proof in custodial violence cases. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.
Externally reportedV2
What this record means
This page documents a court-adjudicated case from the judgment and cited sources below. Findings are attributed to the court; this record does not add findings of its own.
How verification works →Detailed record
Report card
By judgment dated 18 January 1985 in Criminal Appeal No. 69 of 1975, the Supreme Court of India (Coram: Y.V. Chandrachud, Amarendra Nath Sen, JJ.) recorded the conviction of 4 police personnel, namely: Ram Sagar Yadav (Station House Officer); Shobha Nath @ Pujari (Constable); Constable, Hussainganj Police Station; Constable, Hussainganj Police Station.
- Register number
- UP 71 CW 0001
- Case reference
- Criminal Appeal No. 69 of 1975 / (1985) 1 SCC 552; AIR 1985 SC 416
- Court and date
- Supreme Court of India (Coram: Y.V. Chandrachud, Amarendra Nath Sen, JJ.), 18 January 1985
- Officer(s) at the material time
- Ram Sagar Yadav (Station House Officer); Shobha Nath @ Pujari (Constable); Constable, Hussainganj Police Station; Constable, Hussainganj Police Station
- Present service status
- Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked
- Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Section 220 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860
- Finding of the Court (extract)
- “Police Officers alone, and none else, can give evidence as regards the circumstances in which a person in their custody comes to receive injuries while in their custody. Bound by ties of a kind of brotherhood, they often prefer to …” (at para n/a)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum
- Conviction entered by Supreme Court. Sentence: imprisonment; maximum substantive term of 7.0 years.
- Present status of the proceedings
- No further proceedings are recorded in the cited sources; the judgment is the concluded position shown.
Compiled from the judgment and the cited sources. Findings are those of the court; this card adds none of its own.
Current position
The Supreme Court of India judgment dated 18 January 1985 is the concluded position shown in the cited sources.
Evidence position
Recorded allegations
Custodial deathPrimary
Material fact supported
Reliable material supports a specifically documented fact relevant to that allegation, not necessarily the full allegation, causation, intent, unlawfulness, or responsibility.
Official finding: supports allegation.
Attributed to the court
What the court found
Holding not recorded separately.
“Police Officers alone, and none else, can give evidence as regards the circumstances in which a person in their custody comes to receive injuries while in their custody. Bound by ties of a kind of brotherhood, they often prefer to …” (para n/a)
Separate from verification
Institutional response
Continuing record
Follow-up history
19 Sep 2026
(Round-8 full re-verification: published record re-checked against the judgment text (outcome, officers, quote, key facts) plus methodology-compliance pass; skills-guided adversarial re-verification of the published record against the judgment text (reverify/t1-*/adversarial-8.jsonl))
Corrections (0): No corrections recorded.
Review: Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded.