Dying declaration can not be considered as a valid evidence upon lethal injury to the victim: SC
Title: JITENDRA KUMAR MISHRA V STATE OF MP
Citation: CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1348 OF 2011 WITH 1347 OF 2011
Dated on: 7.1.2024
Corum: HON’BLE JUSTICE PANKAJ MITHAL J
Facts of the case
In this present case an appeal is filed by the Jitendra Kumar who is one among the four convicts in a murder trial. Initially the four convicts were imprisoned under section 302 and 34 of the IPC for allegedly being involved in the death of Pappu alias Rajendra Yadav. In this contention all four individuals were declared guilty for causing the murder of Pappu with lethal weapons by the trial court ad were sentenced to life imprisonment along with fine individually. In response the convicts filed a joint appeal in the HC where the decision of trial court was upheld. During the course of the trial one of the appellants- Manja @Amit Mishra passed away and his pending appeal is now filed by Jitendra Kumar. Presently the appeal stands before the SC of India.
Legal Provision
This present case invokes section 302 read with sec 34 of the IPC which talks about Murder and acts committed by several persons in furtherance of common intention. In this present contention the four convicts caused the death of Pappu with the intent of causing harm and death to him. Another important legal provision is the dying declaration made by the deceased to his mother and brother ascertaining the circumstances surrounding the incident and which Is highly evaluated by the court.
Court analysis and judgement
In the present case the hon’ble court in its judgment made a lot of observation regarding the evidences obtained in the present case and came to the conclusion to allow the appeal. The SC observed that the dying declaration by the deceased could not be taken into consideration as the victim already suffered from fatal injuries which could not have allowed him to provide with valid information regarding the convicts. The court with regard to the eye witnesses established that legal background of them casted sufficient doubt on the reliability and credibility of their testimony and the additional mentions of the other two eye witnesses did not provide enough evidence to the case and hence the SC set aside the orders of the HC and allowed the present appeal.
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Written by- Namitha Ramesh