Court caseAIR 1983 SC 957

In a family feud, Machhi Singh and his companions raided five villages in one night and killed seventeen people, including women and children. Several accused were sentenced to death.

The Supreme Court explained that the death sentence is warranted when the collective conscience of the community is so shocked that it expects the holders of judicial power to impose it. It identified five categories - the manner of commission, the motive, the anti-social or abhorrent nature of the crime, its magnitude, and the personality of the victim - and directed courts to draw up a balance sheet of aggravating and mitigating circumstances, imposing death only when the mitigating ones are outweighed.