Citations: Amarsingh Munnasingh Suryawanshi Vs State of Maharashtra, AIR 2008 SC 479
Date of Judgement: 27/09/2007
Equivalent Citations: (2007) 15 SCC 455
Case no.: Criminal Appeal 97 of 2006
Case type: Criminal Appeal
Petitioner: Amarsingh Munnasingh Suryawanshi
Respondent: State of Maharashtra
Bench: Hon’ble JusticeS.B. Sinha & H.S. Bedi
Court: Supreme Court of India
Statutes referred
- Indian Penal Court, 1860; Section 313
Cases referred:
- Kutti Ravi Vs State of Tamil Nadu, (2006) 9 SCC 240
- P. Mani Vs State of Tamil Nadu, (2006) 3 SCC 161
- K. Ramachandra Reddy And Another Vs The Public Prosecutor, (1976) 3 SCC 618
- Mehboobsab Abbasabi Nadaf Vs State of Karnataka, (2007 (9) SCALE 473)
- State Of Rajasthan Vs Parthu (2007 (11) SCALE 460)
- Raj Kumar Prasad Tamarkar Vs State of Bihar and Another, (2007) 1 SCALE
- Virsa Singh Vs State of Punjab, 1958 SCR 1495
Facts:
- Kamlabai was married to the appellant for 15 years. The couple had 5 five children – 2 daughters and 3 sons – all being minor at the material time.
- On 07.06.1990, when Kamlabai was serving food to the appellant, the appellant took out kerosene from lamp, poured it on her and set her ablaze. Later, he ran away from the scene. Kamlabai was admitted in hospital the next day by her uncle.
- The police authorities recorded two dying declarations of Kamlabai and a First Information Report was lodged.
- She died on 22.06.1990, after 15 days of the incident.
- Appellant could not be arrested as he was nowhere to be found.
Issues involved
Can a conviction be based on the dying declaration alone, subject to the satisfaction of the court that the same is trustworthy?
Contention of Petitioner/ Appellant
Name of the Counsel: Mr. S.D. Singh, Vijay Kumar, Vishwajit Singh and Makrand D Adkar, Advocates for the Appellant
The counsel for petitioner contented that:
- The two dying declarations of the deceased were unreliable and the learned trial judge committed a serious error in recording a judgement of conviction against the appellant;
- No certificate was obtained that could made show that the deceased was in a fit mental condition to make the said dying statement;
- There was a doubt whether the deceased understood the implications made by her and whether or not she understood the statements recorded in Marathi language.
- The only eye-witness of the case, Vinod, the son of the deceased, could not support the case of the prosecution.
Contention of Defendant/ Respondent
Name of the Counsel: Mr. Chinmoy Khaladkar, Ravindra Keshavrao Adsure, Advocates for the Respondent
The counsel for State contended that:
- The first dying statement was recorded after taking the opinion of the medical officer to know whether or not the deceased was in fit mental condition and after obtaining affirmative answer only thereafter the opinion was recorded.
- The deceased was conscious while giving statements and the same was also endorsed by Dr. Shantilal himself.
- The deceased knew both the languages- Hindi and Marathi.
Judgement
It was held by the learned judges of Supreme Court that the death was homicidal in nature and not an accident. There was no evidence brought to support that the death in question was an accident. Therefore, the plea of learned counsel appearing on behalf of the appellant that there was no intention on the part of the accused to cause her death was denied and was dismissed accordingly.
Ratio Decidendi
- The Court relied on the fact that the authority of dying declarations made by the deceased were not in question and were declared fit for the said purpose.
- The Appellant had not been able to prove his alibi. The prosecution did not examine any witness for the same and failed to prove his case.
Obiter Dicta
The dying declaration is an important factor while deciding a case. Dying declaration must be consistent. Where there are inconsistencies and contrary statements in two or more dying declarations, they should not be accepted on their face values.
Conclusion
Dying declaration is made in the case of extremity and is admissible upon consideration that the declaration was made at a point of death and when every hope of this world is gone, when every motive to the falsehood is silenced and the mind is induced to speak the truth. The aspect of this matter was carefully considered and several cases were referred by Honorable Supreme Court of India. It has clearly been laid down many times that the conviction can be based on dying declaration alone but before it can be acted upon, the same must be held to have been rendered voluntarily and truthfully.
Drafted by: Devanshi Saxena, Manipal University, Jaipur
Edited by: Pooja Yadav, Associate Editor, Law Insider
Published On: January 24, 2022 at 22:50 IST