INDIA BUSINESS WORLD SEPTEMBER (16^th - 30^th) 2007
The Month that was ...

DON'T BELIEVE IN DYING DECLARATION BLINDLY: SUPREME COURT

IN A significant ruling, the Supreme Court has said although a dying declaration can be the sole basis of conviction, in cases where suspicion surrounds the authenticity of the declaration, it needed to be corroborated by other evidence.

A bench comprising Justice RV Raveendran and Justice B Sudarshan Reddy said, "It is unsafe to record conviction on the basis of a dying declaration alone in cases where suspicion is raised as regards the correctness of the dying declaration. In such cases, the court may have to look for some corroborative evidence by treating dying declaration only as a piece of evidence".

It is a well settled and needs no restatement at our hands that dying declaration can form the sole basis for conviction. But at the same time due care and caution must be exercised in considering weight given to dying declaration in as much as there could be any number of circumstances which may affect the truth, said Justice Reddy writing the verdict.

The court said it was the duty of the prosecution to establish the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. The benefit of doubt must always go in favour of the accused. It is true that dying declaration is a substantive piece of evidence provided it is proved that the same was voluntary and truthful and the victim was in a fit state of mind. The court was hearing a case in which a sessions court in Guntur had awarded life sentence to the appellant accused relying upon the dying declaration of the deceased. The sentence was confirmed by the AP High Court. The apex court set aside the conviction order.

Ordering for an immediate release of the accused provided he was not required in connection with any other case, the apex court said in the present case it is difficult to rest the conviction solely based on the dying declarations. The deceased sustained as many as 63 injuries. Having regard to the nature of injuries, the deceased may not have been in a position to make any statement.

According to prosecution, the deceased Dasari Srinivasa Rao alias Bujji was an accused in a case relating to the murder of brother of the appellant Nallapati Sivaiah. On January 5, 1998, three accused including the appellant chased the deceased and attacked him with knives while he was returning from Vishnupriya Cinema theatre, Gorantala in Guntur after seeing a movie causing multiple injuries leading to his death. Before his death, Rao recorded his dying declaration.