# Sham Kant v. State of Maharashtra

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## Report card

By judgment dated 15 February 1992 in Criminal Appeal arising from Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) Criminal Appeal No. 93 of 1982, the Supreme Court of India (Coram: S. R. Pandian, K. Jayachandra Reddy, JJ.) affirmed the conviction of the Sham Kant (Acting Sub-Inspector (Station House Officer)).

- Register number: MH 31 CW 0003
- Case reference: Criminal Appeal arising from Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) Criminal Appeal No. 93 of 1982 / 1992 Supp (2) SCC 521; AIR 1992 SC 1879
- Court and date: Supreme Court of India (Coram: S. R. Pandian, K. Jayachandra Reddy, JJ.), 15 February 1992
- Officer(s) at the material time: Sham Kant (Acting Sub-Inspector (Station House Officer))
- Present service status: Not ascertained from the cited sources.
- Provisions invoked: Section 330 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860
- Finding of the Court (extract): “After carefully scanning through the evidence of PW 2, 7, 13.19, 20, 23, 25, 29 and the various documents Exts.21, 22 and 34, we have no reservation in coming to the conclusion that a Ramtek man and a Ramtek man …” (at para 27)
- Verdict, sentence and quantum: Conviction upheld. Sentence: imprisonment and fine; maximum substantive term of 0.75 years.
- 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/1456974/); [Permanent link to this record](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-1992-0002)

**Record:** CW-1992-0002 (compiler id CWC-0353); case SUPREM-041
**Title:** Sham Kant v. State of Maharashtra
**Court:** Supreme Court of India; judges: S. R. Pandian; K. Jayachandra Reddy
**Case number / citation:** Criminal Appeal arising from Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) Criminal Appeal No. 93 of 1982 / 1992 Supp (2) SCC 521; AIR 1992 SC 1879
**Judgment:** 1992-02-15 (1992, day precision)
**Incident date:** 1980-06-25 (1980)
**Place:** Nagpur, Maharashtra; city town: Ramtek; police station or unit: Ramtek Police Station; force: state_police
**Category:** Violence & unlawful detention
**Sub-category:** custodial torture
**Outcome:** Conviction upheld (conviction_upheld)
**Sections:** IPC 330
**Officers (gated display forms):** Sham Kant (Acting Sub-Inspector (Station House Officer)) (1 in record)
**Victims:** Ramtek man; Ramtek man (2 in record)
**Sentence / compensation:** mixed; max 0.75 yrs
**Sentence type:** mixed (mixed)

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal of acting Sub-Inspector Sham Kant, Station House Officer of Ramtek, and confirmed his conviction under Section 330 IPC for torturing temple-theft suspects a Ramtek man and a Ramtek man in police custody between 25 June and 1 July 1980. The Court accepted the survivor's account of stripping, beatings and sexual torture with an iron rod, corroborated by jail and medical records, after which a Ramtek man died of complications from 23 injuries. It rejected the challenge to the High Court's reversal of the trial court's acquittal and its dismissal of a clean-chit inquiry commission report. The Court confirmed the sentence of nine months' rigorous imprisonment with a Rs. 2,000 fine, observing it was very lenient. Matters not addressed in the cited judgment text are not recorded here.

> After carefully scanning through the evidence of PW 2, 7, 13.19, 20, 23, 25, 29 and the various documents Exts.21, 22 and 34, we have no reservation in coming to the conclusion that a Ramtek man and a Ramtek man were subjected to ill-treatment by the appellant in order to extort a confession or any information leading to the detection of the stolen properties.

**Sources (3):** [indiankanoon.org](https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1456974/); [casemine.com](https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/56b48cc9607dba348ffeecdc); [courtkutchehry.com](https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/675681/sham-kant-appellant-hash-state-of-maharashtra-respondent/)
**Verification:** V2 · Externally reported
**Review:** Solo Staff combined review (one combined attestation) — not yet recorded
**admin category:** brutality
**admin subcategory:** custodial_torture
**allegations:** {'category': 'Custodial torture', '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:** 27
**display title redacted:** Sham Kant v. State of Maharashtra
**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': \[\]}
**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': '1992 Supp (2) SCC 521; AIR 1992 SC 1879', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}; {'date': '1992-02-15', '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': '1992 Supp (2) SCC 521; AIR 1992 SC 1879', 'recheck': 'Not yet re-checked.'}
**last checked:** 2026-09-19
**link checked per url:** {'url': 'https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1456974/', 'link_checked': None}; {'url': 'https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/56b48cc9607dba348ffeecdc', 'link_checked': None}; {'url': 'https://www.courtkutchehry.com/judgements/675681/sham-kant-appellant-hash-state-of-maharashtra-respondent/', 'link_checked': None}
**retracted:** {"is_retracted": false}
**service:** police
**source assessment:** {"established": null, "basis": null}
**status:** current
**subcategory display:** custodial torture
**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:** SC judgment verified via alternate sources after 429; s.330 conviction of SHO confirmed, sentence called very lenient.
**verification badge:** V2 · Externally reported
**verification status:** V2
**watch:** babuwatch

Status: Conviction upheld.

[Open CW-1992-0002](https://datalibertarian.in/babuwatch/incident/CW-1992-0002)