CUTTACK: “A conviction can be based solely on a dying declaration if it inspires confidence”, the Orissa High Court has said while confirming the conviction and life sentence of a man by a trial court for burning his wife to death.
A trial court in Jajpur had delivered the verdict depending on the woman’s dying declaration given to a doctor at a government hospital in Cuttack. She died on December 9, 2011 due to complications arising out of the burn injuries she had sustained on November 14, 2011 night. The case was registered at the Bari Ramchandrapur police station.
The accused had filed a jail criminal appeal (JCRLA) against the January 6, 2014 judgment of District & Sessions Court (Jajpur) in the same year. The trial court had convicted him for offences under Sections 498-A, 304-B and 302 of IPC and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition. Act.
In the recent judgment on the JCRLA, the high court acquitted the man of the charges under Sections 498-A/304-B of the IPC and Section 4 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, but confirmed his conviction under Section 302 of the IPC for murder.
The division bench comprising Justices SK Sahoo and Savitri Ratho noted that a dying declaration made by a person on the verge of death has a special sanctity as at that moment, he or she is most unlikely to make any untrue statement.
The dying declaration cannot be disbelieved as the certificate and signature of the doctor has been recorded by an executive magistrate, the bench stated.
In the case concerned, as per the dying declaration, the appellant came home drunk and poured kerosene on the body of the deceased and set her on fire.
Hearing her scream, her parents in-law rescued her and took her to hospital, where she succumbed to the burn injuries.