Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Conviction Hindu and Hindu-derived contexts Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, India · 2010

Durg human-sacrifice murder: Supreme Court confirmed convictions and life sentences

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Convicted

Authority role

self-described tantrik, Gurumata, spiritual leaders with disciples

Organization

No organization assigned

Spiritual nexus

The Supreme Court found that Yadav and Bai, who claimed to be tantriks, admitted that the child had been killed and buried to attain siddhi. It held that independent testimony, recovery from their property, identification evidence and forensic evidence established their responsibility beyond reasonable doubt for the human-sacrifice murder.

  • Violent occult ideology or sacrifice
  • Ritual, oath, or initiation
  • Guru or spiritual-teacher authority

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. Date in cited record · murder convictions and capital sentences

    Sessions Judge, Durg, Sessions Trial No. 98 of 2011. The trial court convicted Ishwari Lal Yadav and Kiran Bai of kidnapping, murder, conspiracy and destroying evidence and imposed death sentences for murder.

  2. 2016-11-30 · capital reference and appeal

    High Court of Chhattisgarh, Criminal Reference No. 4 of 2014 and Criminal Appeal No. 1068 of 2014. The High Court confirmed Yadav's and Bai's murder convictions, reduced the death sentences to life imprisonment without remission or parole, and acquitted two other defendants.

  3. 2019-10-03 · final merits appeal

    Supreme Court of India, Criminal Appeal No. 1522 of 2019. The Supreme Court confirmed Yadav's and Bai's convictions for murder with common intention and destroying evidence and the life-without-remission-or-parole sentences. It set aside their kidnapping and conspiracy convictions.

Appellate history

  1. Date in cited record · undefined

    undefined

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • claimed attainment of siddhi
  • human sacrifice
  • ritual authority
  • direction of followers

Primary record

Sources

supreme court judgment final conviction and nexus finding Supreme Court of India, Ishwari Lal Yadav v. State of Chhattisgarh, Criminal Appeal No. 1522 of 2019, judgment (Oct. 3, 2019).

The official judgment treats this as a separate trial and appeal, records the defendants' claimed tantrik status and siddhi motive, reviews the recovery and corroborating evidence, confirms murder and evidence-destruction convictions and life sentences, and preserves the acquittals and reversed counts.

Contextual record

Background & context

Institutional and pattern-level sources on Hindu and Hindu-derived contexts, not specific to this one case.

Hinduism Today (2005) 'ISKCON Child Abuse Lawsuit Settled for US$9.5 Million', Hinduism Today, 26 May. Available at: hinduismtoday.com (Accessed: 14 July 2026).

'A US bankruptcy court has ordered the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to pay $9.5 million... to about 450 victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse at its boarding schools in the US and India. The abuses relate to the 1970s and the '80s... Some of them have charged rape, while others have catalogued physical and emotional abuse... The revelations had led to the closure of the US gurukulas (schools) by the mid-1980s.' Note: this is a civil settlement reached through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, not a criminal conviction, and the claimant count varies by source as the fund grew.

Related record

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