Oral or written dying declaration must pass test of reliability

Cause Title : Kamal Khudal v. State Of Assam, Criminal Appeal No. 470 Of 2015, Supreme Court Of India

Date of Judgment/Order : 14-07-2022

Corum : J.B. Pardiwala, J.

Citied: Heikrujam Chaoba Singh v. State of Manipur, (1999) 8 SCC 458

Background

The accused along with two others were convicted of murder based on a oral dying declaration along with some other circumstantial evidence namely :-

1) The convicted persons had accompanied the victim to a paddy field as per his relatives

2) All of them were seen by eye witnesses working in the field and then moving off to the liquor factory run by the accused

3) Key witness (PW-2) saw him stagger out of the shop and say he had been burnt.

The trial court found them guilty and passed judgment. The High Court also dismissed the appeal. Hence, matter was brought to the Supreme Court.

The accused objected to the  oral dying declaration of the deceased claiming it ought not to have been relied upon by the trial court as well as by the High Court as the same does not inspire any confidence. They argued that as a rule of prudence the courts below should have insisted for corroboration before relying upon an oral dying declaration which otherwise is a weak piece of evidence.

Judgment

The Supreme Court after looking into the medical record, mortem report, deposition of the medical examiner, witnesses and other evidences concluded that High Court was justified in accepting the oral dying declaration made by the deceased before the PW-2 as one reliable and inspiring confidence.

The whole idea of accepting a statement in the name of dying declaration comes from a maxim Nemo moriturus praesumitur mentire which means that a man will not meet his maker with a lie in his mouth. It is believed that when a man is at the point of death and when every expectation of this world is gone, it hushes away every motive of lie.

Referring to judgment in Heikrujam (supra), the court said that the law regarding the nature, scope and value as a piece of evidence of oral and written dying declarations is now fairly well settled by various judicial decisions of this Court. A dying declaration, oral or written, before it could be relied upon, must pass a test of reliability as it is a statement made in the absence of the accused and there is no opportunity to the accused even to put it through the fire of cross examination to test is genuinity or veracity. The court has, therefore, to subject it to close scrutiny. But once the court is satisfied that it is a truthful version as to the circumstances in which the death resulted and the persons causing injuries, the law does not expect that there should be corroboration before it can be relied upon. However, if there are infirmities and the court does not find it safe to base any conclusion on it without some further evidence to support it, the question of corroboration arises.