Dying declaration of the patient suffered 92% burn injuries is acceptable: Apex Court.
(Judicial Quest News Service)
A division bench of Supreme Court comprising of Justice K.M.Joseph and Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul dismissed a criminal appeal titled Bhagwan v state of Maharashtra.
The appellant who is a convict under section 302 of IPC for committing murder of his wife by setting her on fire after pouring kerosene on her.
The appellant had raise two points in support of his appeal.
- Though the dying declaration certified that the patient was conscious, it did not certify that she was physically and mentally fit to make the declaration. It was claimed that the deceased had suffered 92% burns owing to which she could not have been fit to give a dying declaration.
- The dying declaration bore the of a person other than the person who was actually alleged by the prosecution to have recorded it and was thus absolutely unreliable.
The appellant had submitted that he himself had suffered burn injuries in an attempt to save his wife and he could not be held responsible for her demise.
The counsel for the state countered his submissions. He said that place where the incident took place was a room in which the appellant the deceased and the two sons were residing. The burn injuries suffered by the appellant and the son is in the context of a small room and when the deceased suffered extensive burn injuries, it was entirely compatible with homicide and some burn injuries could be inflicted on the husband and son in the course of her natural reactions with her running around and those in the vicinity also catching fire.
The opined that a person who suffered 92% burn injuries could be in a fit condition to give a dying declaration
“The mere fact that the patient
Suffered 92% burn injuries as in this case would not
Stand in the way of patient giving a dying
Declaration which otherwise inspires the confidence
Of the Court and is free from tutoring, and can be
Found reliable. ”observed the court.
The court has rejected the second contention of the Appellant that an unknown person was named in the dying declaration certainly because of a clerical error on the printed form of a dying declaration, while condemning such carelessness, the court chose to ignore this error and upheld the reliability of the dying declaration.
The unambiguous words came from the
Mouth of his deceased wife who cannot be expected to
lie as she would be conscious, that she would have to
meet her maker with a lie in her mouth. Opined Justice K.M.Joseph
