Debangana Ray
Published on August 18, 2022 at 18:18 IST
In a situation where there was a conflicting dying declaration, the Supreme Court relied on the one that was recorded after medical examination regarding the fitness of the person giving it.
The bench comprising of Justices PS Narasimha and BR Gavai stated that the court is required to examine the reliability of the dying declaration, whether the person was physically and mentally fit while making the declaration, and whether it had been made using unfair methods such as tutoring to prompt the individual.
In this case, the petitioner had approached the court against an order given by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, where the High Court upheld the judgement of the trial court and convicted the petitioner under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code.
The present case was regarding a conflict where two dying declarations were recorded by the deceased.
The High Court stated that a dying declaration can be a sole basis for convicting an accused and if it is proved to be reliable, then no corroboration was required.
Further the high court stated that in case of multiple dying declaration the one recorded before a higher officer will be taken into consideration .
However this is to be done under the condition that there is no question or suspicion that has risen regarding its reliability.
Hence the court stated that it relying on the facts and circumstances the first dying declaration was considered in the present as it is more reliable against the second one. In this case, the appellant was also acquitted.