Does a victim’s survival for 16 days after a stabbing rule out murder? The Supreme Court has restored a murder conviction and life sentence after the Rajasthan High Court reduced the offence to culpable homicide because the victim died 16 days after being stabbed. The Court held that the septicemia in this case resulted from the stab wounds and did not break the connection between the assault and the death.
New Delhi: Several days of survival after an assault do not, by themselves, justify reducing a murder conviction, the Supreme Court has ruled while allowing an appeal brought by the deceased man’s wife [Rameela w/o Late Mahendra v. State of Rajasthan & Anr.].
The order was passed on November 5, 2026, by Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manmohan, in Rameela’s appeal against the State of Rajasthan and the convicted accused. The signed order was uploaded on November 6.
The principles applied
The bench found that the High Court had erred and applied Maniklal Sahu v. State of Chhattisgarh, reported in 2025 SCC OnLine SC 1960. Paragraph 13 of the present order reproduces the broad principles set out in paragraph 69 of that decision.
Those principles require courts to examine the nature of the injuries, the relevant intention or knowledge and the causal link to death. A later complication does not automatically take a case outside murder if the applicable requirements of Section 300 IPC are otherwise established.
The cited decision distinguishes complications that naturally or probably follow from an injury from an unexpected development that breaks the causal chain. It also explains that the possibility of successful medical treatment does not determine whether an injury was sufficient in the ordinary course of nature to cause death.
The inquiry therefore cannot end with the number of days the victim survived or the fact that septicemia appears as the medical cause of death.
Why the High Court reduced the offence
According to the prosecution case recorded in the order, the accused arrived at the deceased’s house carrying a knife, began an altercation and inflicted stab wounds. The injured man was taken to hospital, where he died 16 days later while undergoing treatment. There were eyewitnesses to the incident.
The trial court convicted the accused of murder and imposed life imprisonment with a fine. On his appeal, the Rajasthan High Court altered the conviction from Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code to Section 304 Part II.
The Supreme Court recorded that the High Court treated the interval before death as indicating an absence of intention to kill. It also understood the High Court’s reasoning as disconnecting the recorded cause of death, septicemia, from the injuries sustained in the assault.
Life sentence restored
Applying the principles to this case, the Court held in paragraphs 14 and 15 that the septicemia resulted from the stab wounds inflicted by the accused. Death was the direct result of those injuries, making the offence murder punishable under Section 302 IPC.
The Court allowed the wife’s appeal, set aside the High Court’s judgment and restored the trial court’s original conviction and sentence. Its conclusion was based on the causal connection in this case, rather than a rule that every death following infection necessarily amounts to murder.
Case: Rameela w/o Late Mahendra v. State of Rajasthan & Anr.
Proceeding: Criminal appeal arising from SLP (Criminal) 18612/2026
Impugned decision: Rajasthan High Court, Criminal Appeal 253/2024, May 18, 2026
Bench: Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manmohan, Supreme Court of India
Order: November 5, 2026; uploaded November 6, 2026
Outcome: Appeal allowed; trial court’s murder conviction and sentence restored.
