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Dying Declaration

A dying declaration is an admissible statement made by a deceased person about the circumstances of their death. It is considered valid evidence under Indian law. For a dying declaration to be accepted, the deceased must have been conscious and made the statement voluntarily. While they cannot be cross-examined, dying declarations are still given significant weight in court, especially when there are no other eyewitnesses. Corroborating evidence can provide additional support for details in a dying declaration but is not always required for a conviction.

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36 views2 pages

Dying Declaration

A dying declaration is an admissible statement made by a deceased person about the circumstances of their death. It is considered valid evidence under Indian law. For a dying declaration to be accepted, the deceased must have been conscious and made the statement voluntarily. While they cannot be cross-examined, dying declarations are still given significant weight in court, especially when there are no other eyewitnesses. Corroborating evidence can provide additional support for details in a dying declaration but is not always required for a conviction.

Uploaded by

Himanshu Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Dying Declaration

drishtiias.com/printpdf/dying-declaration

Why in News
Recently, a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court awarded two policemen life
sentences for the custodial death of a murder accused on the basis of the ‘Dying
Declaration’ made by the victim prior to his death.

CBI is the premier investigating police agency in India. It functions under the
superintendence of the Deptt. of Personnel, Ministry of Personnel, Pension &
Public Grievances - which falls under the prime minister’s office.

Key Points
About:
Section-32(1) of Indian Evidence Act, 1872, defines dying declaration as a
statement written or verbal of relevant facts made by a person, who is dead.
It is the statement of a person who had died explaining the circumstances of his
death.
This is based on the maxim ‘nemo mariturus presumuntur mentri’ i.e. a
man will not meet his maker with a lie on his mouth.
The general rule under Section 60 of the Act is that all oral evidence must be
direct - he heard it, saw it or perceived it.
Rules for Admission of Dying Declaration:
The grounds of admission under a dying declaration have been based on two
broad rules:
The victim being generally the only principal eye-witness to the crime.
The sense of impending death, which creates a sanction equal to the
obligation of an oath in a court.

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Recording Dying Declaration:
Anyone can record the dying declaration of the deceased as per law. However, a
dying declaration recorded by a Judicial or Executive Magistrate will add an
additional strength to the prosecution case.
A dying declaration may in several cases be the “primary piece of
evidence to prove the genesis of occurrence”.
The only requirement for such a declaration to be held perfectly accountable in
court is for the victim to volunteer the statement and be of conscious mind.
The person who records the dying declaration must be satisfied that the
victim is in a fit state of mind.
Situations Where Court Does Not Accept it as a Evidence:
Though a dying declaration is entitled to great weight, the accused has no
power of cross-examination.
This is the reason the courts have always insisted that the dying
declaration be of such a nature as to inspire full confidence of the
court in its correctness.
The courts are on guard to check if the statement of the deceased was a
result of either tutoring, prompting or a product of imagination.
Need of Corroboration (Supporting Evidence):
Several judgments have noted that it is neither rule of law nor of prudence that
dying declaration cannot be acted upon without corroboration.
If the court is satisfied that the dying declaration is true and voluntary it can
base conviction on it, without corroboration.
Where a dying declaration is suspicious, it should not be acted upon without
corroborative evidence because a dying declaration does not contain the
details as to the occurrence.
It is not to be rejected, equally merely because it is a brief statement. On
the contrary, the shortness of the statement itself guarantees truth.
Validity of Medical Opinion:
Normally the court, in order to satisfy whether the deceased was in a fit mental
condition to make the dying declaration, can look up the medical opinion.
But where the eye witness has said that the deceased was in a fit and
conscious state to make this dying declaration, the medical opinion cannot
prevail.

Source: IE

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