Court can convict if satisfied that dying declaration is true: HC

 Court can convict if satisfied that dying declaration is true: HC

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Ajay.Sura@timesgroup.com

04.02.2022

Chandigarh: Upholding the life imprisonment of an Haryana-based accused who had set his wife afire, the Punjab and Haryana high court held that if the court is satisfied that dying declaration is true and voluntary, it can convict the accused even without any corroboration. Even the main complainant in the case, brother of the deceased, had turned hostile.

"It is trite law that, if the court is satisfied that the dying declaration is true and voluntary it can base conviction on it, without corroboration…," observed the HC.

The division bench, comprising Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Pankaj Jain of the HC, passed these orders while dismissing an appeal filed by Sukhbir of Palwal district in Haryana.

The appellant was aggri-eved against the judgment passed by Sessions Judge, Palwal, whereby he was convicted in FIR No. 170 dated March 25, 2014, for the murder of his wife and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

The couple, who had two children, got married in 2008 but they had regular fights and the accused used to beat her under the influence of liquor. On March 24, 2014, at around 6-7 pm the accused, who was in a drunken state, started beating his wife Ranjana. With the inter- vention of complainant Sonu Mohanti, who was Ranjana's brother, she was saved. At around12 am on the same day, the accused set her on fire. She was taken to Safdarganj hospital, Delhi. During the treatment, her dying declaration was recorded in which she confirmed that her husband had an illicit relationship with his sister in-law and had set her on fire.

During the trial, Mohanti, whowas the brother of the deceased, turned hostile.

However, the trial court held the accused guilty while relying on the dying declaration of the deceased. The trial court observed that the dying declaration of the victim when tested on the anvil of admissibility is fully admissible and no intrinsic infirmity could be pointed out in this statement.

Complainant turned hostile during trial

Hence, in my opinion, the same deserves to be relied upon without corroboration from any other source and while accepting the same, it stands fully proved that the victim had died due to burns caused by the accused by immolating her with in tention to kill her an in this way he proved to have committed the murder of the victim, the trial court had held.

In his appeal against these orders, the accused mainly argued that the complainant having resiled from his statement, dying declara tion alone is not sufficient to hold the app ellant guilty.

Counsel for the state contended that, as per settled law, o nce the court has come to the conclusion that the dying declaration was the truthful version, it does not need any corroboration.

After hearing both the parties, the HC dismissed the ap peal observing that the dying declaration of the victim proved on record proves the guilt of the appellant beyond doubt.