Conviction valid on dying declaration: SC

“There has to be a very serious doubt or infirmity in the dying declaration for the courts to not rely upon the same. Of course,if it falls in that class of cases,we have no doubt in our minds that the dying declaration cannot form the sole basis of conviction. However,that is not the case here.

“Their somersault appears to be founded on the consideration of saving a relation from receiving punishment at the hands of justice. They appear to have lied before this court,more out of sympathy for the appellant/accused,” Justice Kumar writing the judgement said.

The apex court passed the judgement dismissing the appeal of Bhajju alias Karan Singh who set ablaze his wife Medabai on September 12,1995,in Madhya Pradesh’s Tikamgarh district as he suspected her fidelity.

“The dying declaration is admissible upon the consideration that the declaration was made in extremity,when the maker is at the point of death and when every hope of this world is gone,when every motive to file a false suit is silenced in the mind and the person deposing is induced by the most powerful considerations to speak the truth,” the bench said.