SOM NATHversusSTATE OF HARYANA
- Citation
- 1980 INSC 61
- Decided
- 31 March 1980
- Disposal
- Dismissed
- Bench
- V R KRISHNA IYER
Holding
Dying declarations under Section 32 are admissible and credible and cannot be discredited for minor shortfalls; the conviction based on them stands.
Summary
Som Nath was convicted of murdering his wife by burning her, based largely on three dying declarations made by the victim. He filed a Special Leave Petition challenging the admissibility and credibility of those declarations under Section 32 of the Indian Evidence Act. The Supreme Court held that dying declarations, being uttered in the grip of imminent death, are not subject to the same scrutiny for completeness as ordinary testimony and cannot be discredited for minor inconsistencies. The Court emphasized that concurrent findings of fact cannot be disturbed unless they are improbably erroneous, which was not the case here. Consequently, the petition was dismissed and the conviction upheld.
Issues considered
- Whether dying declarations under Section 32 of the Indian Evidence Act can be discredited on the ground of improbability or lack of full particulars.
- Whether concurrent findings of fact supporting a conviction can be disturbed on the basis of alleged improbability.
Legislation cited
Subjects
Judgment
280
A SOM NATH
v.
STATE OF HARY.l\NA
March 31, 1980
[V. R. KRISHNA IYER AND E. S. VENKATARAMIAH, JJ.]
'
B Indian Evidence Act Section 32-Dying Declaration-Value of.
The petitioner was found guilty of burning his wife by the Courts below.
By Special Leave Petition, the Petitioner sought to discredit the dying declara··
lions.
Dismissing the petition,
HEID : Concurrent findings of fact cannot be disturbed on enormity of
c improbability. The dying declarations under Section 32 of the Evidence Act,
are the groaning utterances of a dying woman in the grip of dreadful agony
which cannot be judged by the standards of fullness of particulars which wit-
nesses lll.3;Y give in other situations.. To discredit such dying declarations for
shortfalls here and there or even in many places, is unrealistic, unnatural and
unconscionable, if basically there is credibility. [280E-G]
CruMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Special Leave Petition
D (Cr!.) No. 3478 of 1979.
From the Judgment and Order dated 10-8-197.9 of the Punjab &
Haryana High Court in Criininal Appeal No. 427/77.
N.C. Ta/ukdar, J.P. Malhotra and J.D. Jain for the Petitioner
The Order of the Court was delivered by
E KRISHNA IYER, J., Wife burning-that atrocious species of murder
horrendously escalating in some parts:of this country-is the shocking
crime proved, according to two courts, by the prosecution in this case.
Concurrent findings of fact cannot be disturbed save on enormity of
improbability which we are unable to see in the present case. The
three dying declarations corroborated by other circumstances are .
F sufficient in our view to bring home the offence. Counsel has sought
to discredit these declarations relevant under s. 32 of the Evidence Act ~
forgetting that they are the groaning utterances of a dying woman in
the grip of dreadful agony which cannot be judged by the standards
of fullness of particulars which witnesses may give in other situations.
G To discredit such dying declarations for shortfalls here or there or
even in many places is unrealistic, unnatural and unconscionable if
basically there is credibility. The terrible in this case has taken place
in the house and in the presence of the husband who has been con-
victed. · We hardly see any reason for interfering with this conviction,
and would have been shocked ourselves if any other course had been
H adopted either by the trial court or by the High Court. Gender jus-
tice has a high place in Indian criminal jurisprudence. Dismissed.
N.K.A. Petition dismissed.
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