Ashabai & Anr. vs. State of Maharashtra, Criminal Appeal No. 1062 of 2008, Decided
on Jan 4, 2013
The
Hon’ble Supreme Court held that:
“It is not in dispute
that her statement relates to the cause of her death. In that event, it
qualifies the criteria mentioned in Section 32(1) of the Evidence Act. There is
no particular form or procedure prescribed for recording a dying declaration
nor it is required to be recorded only by a Magistrate. As a general rule, it
is advisable to get the evidence of the declarant certified from a doctor. In
appropriate cases, the satisfaction of the person recording the statement
regarding the state of mind of the deceased would also be sufficient to hold
that the deceased was in a position to make a statement. It is settled law that
if the prosecution solely depends on the dying declaration, the normal rule is
that the courts must exercise due care and caution to ensure genuineness of the
dying declaration, keeping in mind that the accused had no opportunity to test
the veracity of the statement of the deceased by cross-examination. As rightly
observed by the High Court, the law does not insist upon the corroboration of
dying declaration before it can be accepted. The insistence of corroboration to
a dying declaration is only a rule of prudence. When the Court is satisfied
that the dying declaration is voluntary, not tainted by tutoring or animosity,
and is not a product of the imagination of the declarant, in that event, there is
no impediment in convicting the accused on the basis of such dying declaration.
When there are multiple dying declarations, each dying declaration has to be
separately assessed and evaluated and assess independently on its own merit as
to its evidentiary value and one cannot be rejected because of certain
variation in the other.” [Para 12]
In
this case the prosecution relied on 4 dying declarations (i) First dying
declaration was recorded by Sub-inspector of Police. (ii) Statement was made by
the deceased before the Executive Magistrate (iii) Statement before the
Executive Magistrate, next day, and (iv) statement before Sub-Inspector of
Police
The
appellants argued that the version of incident as given by the deceased in all
the four dying declarations is inconsistent and no reliance can be placed on
it.
The
Court hold conviction relying on the dying declarations mainly on the following
grounds:
(i) At the time of recording of these statements, medical
officers on duty had certified that the deceased was fully conscious and was in
a fit state of mind to make the same.
(ii) The deceased given proper replies to the questions put to
her by various authorities.
(iii) She survived for about 1 ½ (one and a half) month which
speaks for the fitness of the declarant to make a statement.
(iv) Her statements
in those dying declarations are consistent and truthful.
(v) The persons who recorded the four dying declarations were
examined as PWs 14, 7 and 6 and they were also cross-examined about the
statement made by the deceased and recorded by them
The
Court also noted that:
“In spite of stringent
legislations in order to curb the deteriorating condition of women across the
country, the cases related to bride burning, cruelty, suicide, sexual
harassment, rape, suicide by married women etc. have increased and are taking
place day by day. A complete overhaul of the system is a must in the form of
deterrent punishment for the offenders so that we can effectively deal with the
problem.” [Para 18]
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