Landmark Judgments

Hanumant Govind Nargundkar Vs, State of M.P., AIR 1952 SC 343 (Panchasheel Rule)


Hanumant Govind Nargundkar Vs, State of M.P., AIR 1952 SC 343 (Panchasheel Rule)

The following conditions must be fulfilled before a case against an accused can be said to be fully established on basis of circumstantial evidences. (1) The circumstances from which the conclusion of guilt is to be drawn should be fully established. (2) The facts so established should be consistent only with the hypothesis of the guilt of the accused, that is to say, they should not be explainable on any other hypothesis except that the accused is guilty, (3) The circumstances should be of a conclusive nature and tendency, (4) They should exclude every possible hypothesis except the one to be proved, and (5) There must be a chain of evidence so complete as to leave no reasonable ground for a conclusion consistent with the innocence of the accused and must show that in all human probability, the act must have been done by the accused.