Shivkumar @ Baleshwar Yadav v. State of Chhattisgarh 2025 INSC 1231- Evidence - Hostile Witness Declaration - SC-ST Act
Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 154: Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023 - Section 157 - Before a witness can be declared hostile and the party examining the witnesses is allowed to cross-examine, there must be some material to show that the witnesses are not speaking the truth or has exhibited an element of hostility to the party for whom he is deposing - The circumstances under which the Court will exercise the discretion under Section 154 and permit the party calling the witness to put any question which might be put in cross-examination by the adverse party will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case - Contingency of crossexamining the witness by the party calling, is an extraordinary phenomenon and permission should be given only in special cases. Small or insignificant omissions cannot be the basis for treating the witnesses hostile and the Court before exercising its discretion must scan and weigh the circumstances properly and ought not to exercise its discretion in a casual or routine manner. (Para 9) Merely because a witness is declared hostile does not make him unreliable. (Para 12) [Context: SC notes that, in many cases, prosecutor, for no ostensible reason, wants to treat the witnesses hostile and the Court indiscriminately grants permission]
Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - Section 35- A register maintained in a school is admissible in evidence to prove date of birth of the person concerned in terms of Section 35 of the Evidence Act. Such dates of births are recorded in the school register by the authorities in discharge of their public duty. (Para 19)
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 -Section 3(2)(v) - Mere knowledge of the caste of the victim was sufficient to sustain the conviction. (Para 22)
Case Info
Case Details
- Case name: Shivkumar @ Baleshwar Yadav v. State of Chhattisgarh.
- Neutral citation: 2025 INSC 1231
- Coram: Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice K.V. Viswanathan.
- Judgment date: 14 October 2025.
- Court: Supreme Court of India, Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction.
Caselaws and citations
- Sri Rabindra Kumar Dey v. State of Orissa, (1976) 4 SCC 233.
- Dahyabhai Chhaganbhai Thakker v. State of Gujarat, AIR 1964 SC 1563; (1964) 7 SCR 361; (1964) 2 Cri LJ 472.
- Gura Singh v. State of Rajasthan, (2001) 2 SCC 205.
- Bhagwan Singh v. State of Haryana, (1976) 1 SCC 389.
- State of Chhattisgarh v. Lekhram, (2006) 5 SCC 736.
- Patan Jamal Vali v. State of A.P., (2021) 16 SCC 225.
Statutes/laws referred
- Indian Penal Code, 1860: Sections 363, 366, 376, 506.
- Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012: Section 4.
- Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989: Section 3(2)(v); as amended on 26.01.2016.
- SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015: Section 8(c) (presumption regarding knowledge of caste).
- Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Section 164 (statement of victim).
- Indian Evidence Act, 1872: Section 154 (hostile witness), Section 35 (entries in public record).
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023: Section 157 (noted as corresponding to Evidence Act s.154).
#SupremeCourt holds that small or insignificant omissions cannot be the basis for treating the witnesses hostile. https://t.co/KoY0zBeEhn pic.twitter.com/AH2LxUbl4a
— CiteCase 🇮🇳 (@CiteCase) October 14, 2025
#SupremeCourt reiterates that mere knowledge of the caste of the victim was sufficient for conviction under Section 3(2)(v) SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. https://t.co/rG7A25umbq pic.twitter.com/U2p8V4zais
— CiteCase 🇮🇳 (@CiteCase) October 14, 2025
Merely because a witness is declared hostile does not make him unreliable.#SupremeCourt https://t.co/KoY0zBeEhn pic.twitter.com/fONiYV3TYO
— CiteCase 🇮🇳 (@CiteCase) October 14, 2025
