RAMKIRAT MUNILAL GOUD versus STATE OF MAHARASHTRA ETC.

Citation: [2025] 6 S.C.R. 513 · Decided: 06-05-2025 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: VIKRAM NATH · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

[2025] 6 S.C.R. 513 : 2025 INSC 702
Ramkirat Munilal Goud 
v. 
State of Maharashtra Etc.
(Criminal Appeal No(s). 1954-1955 of 2022)
07 May 2025
[Vikram Nath, Sanjay Karol and Sandeep Mehta,* JJ.]
Issue for Consideration
Matter pertains to the correctness of the order passed by the High 
Court upholding the conviction and death sentence of the appellant 
for causing rape and murder of a child aged 3 years and 9 months.
Headnotes†
Penal Code, 1860 – ss.302, 363, 376(2), 201 – Rape and murder 
of a child – Prosecution case that gruesome rape and murder 
of a child at the tender age of 3 years and 9 months – Dead 
body of child recovered from pond located at a distance of one 
kilometer from appellant’s house – Prosecution case based 
on circumstantial evidence-last seen together circumstance, 
extra-judicial confession, and FSL report regarding the soil 
found stuck in the shoes of the appellant, matching with the 
soil of the pond where the child’s dead body found – Trial 
court convicted the appellant and sentenced him to death – 
High Court upheld the order – Correctness:
Held: Flawed and tainted investigation eventually led to the 
failure of the prosecution case – Evidence of the witnesses of last 
seen circumstance vacillating, shaky and tainted with wholesale 
improvements, and thus, unworthy of credence – Conduct of the 
witnesses of the last seen circumstance in failing to timely step 
forward to make a disclosure to the Investigating Officer that they 
had seen the appellant and the child victim together on the date 
of the incident in spite of the fact that the police officers were 
regularly visiting the area, clearly indicates that the witnesses 
were untrustworthy and were created by the investigation agency 
for ulterior motive – Investigating Officer made no effort to record 
the statements of the witnesses of last seen circumstance in the 
spot panchnama, at the earliest available opportunity, rather did not 
* Author
514
[2025] 6 S.C.R.
Supreme Court Reports
record their statements at all, and the witnesses were examined for 
the first time three days later by the second Investigating Officer, 
which omission is vital and indicative of gross negligence on the part 
of the Investigation Officer – Evidence of extra-judicial confession 
as deposed by one prosecution witness also unacceptable because 
the said witness too did not step forward to inform the police 
regarding the fact of the so called extrajudicial confession made 
by the appellant before him, in spite of being aware that the police 
was searching for the child – FSL report regarding the similarity 
of soil samples also inconsequential – Prosecution did not to 
place on record the reports pertaining to the comparison of the 
samples taken from the other watchmen – Thus, the prosecution 
withheld important evidence thereby, compelling the court to draw 
adverse inference against the prosecution – Despite there being 
any reliable evidence, the appellant was convicted and sentenced 
by the courts below and has suffered incarceration for 12 years of 
which 6 years were under the threat of death penalty – Findings 
recorded in the impugned judgments holding the appellant guilty, 
based on conjectures and surmises and thus, both the judgments 
and the order of sentence unsustainable and quashed and set 
aside. [Paras 75-79].
Case Law Cited
Sharad Birdhichand Sharda v. State of Maharashtra [1985] 1 SCR 
88 : (1984) 4 SCC 116 – referred to.
List of Acts
Penal Code, 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973; Bharatiya 
Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023; Protection of Children from 
Sexual Offences Act, 2013.
List of Keywords
Murder; Rape; Child victim; Shabby and perfunctory investigation; 
Inherent improbability in prosecution case; Test identification; 
Damocles sword of impending death penalty; Ante mortem injuries; 
DNA profiling; Links of circumstantial evidence; Death sentence; 
Unimpeachable evidence; Circumstantial evidence; Forcible 
sexual assault; Blind murder; Reliable witness; Last seen together; 
Intensive combing operations; Significant loophole and grave 
shortcoming of prosecution case; Flawed and tainted investigation; 
[2025] 6 S.C.R. 
515
Ramkirat Munilal Goud v. State of Maharashtra Etc.
Extra-judicial confession; Blood stained soil; Foundation of arrest 
lacking; Inconsequential recoveries; FSL report; Physio-chemical 
characteristics; Spectro-chemical composition; Rape and murder 
of a child aged 3 years and 9 months; Evidence of 

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