Holding

Dying declarations recorded by police in the presence of a medical officer are admissible and sufficient to sustain a conviction, and the child witness's testimony is reliable; thus the High Court’s acquittal was erroneous.

Summary

The State of Karnataka appealed the acquittal of Shariff, who was convicted by a Sessions Court for murdering his wife by setting her on fire. The High Court had set aside the conviction, discarding the victim's dying declarations and the testimony of an 8‑year‑old child witness. The Supreme Court held that the dying declarations recorded by police officers in the presence of a doctor were admissible despite not being made before a magistrate, being in narrative form, or being recorded only in Kannada. The Court also found the child’s testimony reliable and rejected the High Court’s reasoning for discarding the evidence. Consequently, the Supreme Court restored the Sessions Court’s conviction and ordered the respondent to surrender for the life sentence imposed.

Issues considered

Whether a dying declaration recorded by police officers, without a magistrate, is admissible under Section 32 of the Evidence Act.
Whether a dying declaration must be in question‑answer form to be admissible.
Whether the language in which a dying declaration is recorded affects its admissibility.
Whether the testimony of a child witness aged 8‑9 years is reliable for establishing the facts of the offence.
Whether the High Court erred in discarding the victim's dying declarations and child witness testimony.

Legislation cited

Subjects

murderSection 302 IPCdying declarationadmissibility of evidencechild witness reliabilitynarrative formlanguage of statementpolice recorded statementmedical officer testimony

Judgment

A STATE OF KARNATAKA
v. r
SHARIFF
..
JANUARY 27, 2003

B [S. RAJENDRA BABU AND G.P. MATHUR, JJ.]

Penal C.ode, 1860:

Section 302-Husband setting wife on fire leading to her death--"-
c Conviction by trial court-However, HighC()urtsetting it aside-Justification
of-.;-Held, High Court erredin discarding the dying declarations of the wife
and testimony of chjld witnesses thus, acquitting the husband-Hence order
of trial court restored-Evidence Act, 1872-Section 32.

Evidence Act, 1872-Section 32:
D
Dying Deciaration-Reliability of-Discussed.

Dying Declaration-Evidentiary value of-:-Police ·officer recording it
themselves in presence ofdoctor when they could have called the Magistrate-
Held, .such dying declaration is admissible in evidence since there is no
E requirement of law that it must be made to the Magistrate.

Dying declaration in narrative form and not in question answer form-
Admissibility-Discussed

·.Criminal Trial:
F
Tzstimony of child witness-Reliability-Held, testimony is reliable on
the Jae uni of incident and cannot be discarded on account of his age and
stray sentence in his cross-examination.

According to the prosecution respondent-husband started ill-treating.
G his wife after the birth of their third child. Panchayat was held and he
was asked to treat his wife properly. Respondent was working as a labour
and his wife was making Agarbattis to make some extra money. On the
.·..L_
fateful day, respondent started quarrelling with his wife and demanded
money from her which she had ear~ed sometime back. Thereafter he
poured kerosene on her and set her on fire. Respondent's son aged 8/9
H 572.
ST ATE OF KARNA TAKA v. SHARIFF 573
years saw the incident and called his maternal grandmother and uncle. A
Victim was taken to the hospital. Doctor as well as police personnel
recorded her statement. Thereafter she succumbed to her injuries. Trial
Court convicted respondent under Section 302 IPC. However, High Court
acq!litted the respondent. Hence the present appeal.

Appellant contended that the prosecution had adduced reliable B
evidence to establish its case and High Court has erred In discarding the
testimony of witnesses and dying declarations of the deceased and the
reasons given for acquitting the accused are wholly perverse and contrary
to settled principles of law. ,

Responddt contended that the evidence adduced by the prosecution C
was wholly untrustworthy and the dying declarations of deceased could
not be relied upon, therefore, High Court was perfectly justified in
acquitting respondent; and that at any rate this was a case in which two
views were possible and High Court having taken a view in favour of the
accused and having acquitted him, it will not be proper for this Court to D
interfere.

Allowing the appeal, the Court

HELD: 1.1. The doctor to whom deceased made dying declaration
was the first doctor to examine her when she reached the hospital. He E
stated that the deceased gave her own statement with regard to the history
and that she sustained burn injuries when her husband poured kerosene
and set her on fire. He recorded these facts in the Accident Register and
has proved the same. There is absolutely no reason to discard his
testimony. Police personnel also recorded the dying ·declaration or the
deceased which are fairly long where deceased stated the background of F
the incident and that the accused picked up a quarrel and after pouring
kerosene set her on fire. It was recorded in the presence of doctor who
made an endorsement to this effect. Doctor made a categorical statement
that at the time when the statement of the deceased was being recorded
on both the occasions, she was conscious and was in a fit condition to make G
a statement. Therefore, the three dying declarations are wholly
trustworthy and there is absolutely no reason at all to discard the same.
Further even though the testimony of the brother of deceased and resident
of the same village that the deceased stated that her husband bad tied her
hands and legs and after pouring kerosene had set her on fire is
trustworthy, but even if it is not taken into consideration, the three dying H
574 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003] I S.C.R.

A declarations are quite sufficient to fasten the liability upon the accused.
[581-E-H; 582-A, BJ
r
Khushal Rao v. State of Bombay, AIR (1958) SC 22; State of Uttar
Pradesh v. Ram Sagar Yadav, AIR [1985) SC 416; K. Ramachandra Reddy
& Anr. v. The Public Prosecutor, [1976) 3 SCC 618; Pothakamuri Srinivasulu
B v. State of A.P., (2002) 6 SCC 399 and Mafabhai Nagarbhai Raval v. State
of Gujarat, AIR [19221 SC 2186, referred to.

2.1. High Court discarded the dying declaration on the ground that
+-
Police personnel recorded the dying declaration of the deceased
themselves; that it was in a narrative form; that deceased was not fit to
c give any statement; and that the deceased while making the statement was
speaking in Kannada and Urdu languages, but dying declarations have
been recorded in Kannada language only. The view taken by High Court
is wholly perverse and also contrary to settled principles of law and cannot x·
be sustained. (585-C-E)
D 2.2. It is true that Police personnel recorded the dying declaration
of the deceased themselves when the patient was in the hospital and they
could have easily secured the services of a Magistrate to record the same,
however, there is no requirement of law that a dying declaration must
necessarily be made to a Magistrate. (583-G, H] -.l(.
E Bhagirath v. State of Haryana, AIR (1997] SC 234 and Munnu Raja
& Anr. v. State of Madhya Pradesh, (1976] 2 SCR 764, referred to.

2.3. Very often the deceased is merely asked as to how the incident
took place and the statement is recorded in a narrative form. In fact such
F a statement is more natural and gives the version of the incident as it has
been perceived by the victim. (584-C-D] ~

Padmaben Shamalbhai Patel v. Sta,.te of Gujarat, (1991] 1 SCC 744;
Ram Bihari Yadav v. Staie q.f Bihar & Ors., (1998] 4 SCC 517; State of
Rajasthan v. Bhup Ram, (1997) 1Crimes62 and Jai Prakash & Ors. v. State
G of Haryana, (1998) 7 SCC 284, referred to.

2.4. Dying declarations cannot be discarded merely on the basis of
the inquiry report and post-mortem examination report that she was not -~
in fit state to make statement whereas in view of the clear statement of
the Doctor, the victim was in a position to make a statement. Further with
H regard to the language spoken by the deceased, Doctor stated that the
STATE OF KARNATAKA v. SHARIFF [G.P. MATHUR,!.] 575

victim was answering in Kannada language in which language her A
statement was recorded by police officers. [585-C-El

3. Sessions Judge erred in discarding the testimony of child witness-
PW3 on account of his age and stray sentence in his cross-examination.
A boy aged 8/9 years would be near his mother and would be sleeping in
the same house where she was sleeping. There was no occasion for him B
to go to sleep in the house of his maternal grand mother. If PW 3 was
not present in the house of her grand-mother in the night in question, be
could not have conveyed the information about the incident to his maternal
grandmother and uncle nor they would have come to know about it. If
PW 3 was present in the house he was bound to witness the incident. C
Further, there was absolutely no reason why PW 3 would give a false
statement against his own father that he had tied the hands and legs of
bis mother and had burnt her. Thus the testimony of PW 3 is fairly
reliable on the factum of the incident. High Court did not examine the
testimony of PW-3 carefully and the view taken by it cannot be accepted.
[580-H; 581-A-q D

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal No.
662/1995.

From the Judgment and Order dated 27/28.3.89 of the High Court of
Karnataka in Crl.A. 217/87. E
M. Veerappa, for the Appellant.

Ajay Kumar Jain, (AC) for the Respondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
F
MATHUR, J. This appeal by special leave has been preferred by State
against the judgment and order dated March 28, 1989 of High Court of
Karnataka by which the appeal preferred by the accused respondent Shariff
was allowed and the judgment and order dated February 6, 1987 of Sessions
Judge, Bangalore Rural District, Bangalore, by which he had been convicted G
under Section 302 IPC and had been sentenced to imprisonment for life was
set aside.

The accused-respondent was charged under Section 302 IPC for having
committed murder of his wife Muneera Begum by pouring Kerosene on her
body and setting her on fire in his house at about 4.00 a.m. on July 24, 1986. H
576 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003] I S.C.R.

A The case of th~ prosecution in brief is that the marriage of the accused
with Muneera Begum took place about I 0 years back from the date of the
incident and thereafter they lived in the house of Madar Shariff, the elder
brother of the accused. Sometime thereafter the parents-in-law of the accused
gave him a site in the same village where he built a house and started living
B there. The deceased Muneera Begum gave birth to three children and the
elder one PW3 Rasheed was aged about 8 or 9 years. The accused started ill·
treating his wife after the birth of the third child and a Panchayat was held
wherein he was asked to behave properly and look-after his wife. The accused
was working as a labourer and was earning his livelihood by breaking the
stones. The deceased was making "agarbattis" in her house to make some
C extra money: Atabout 4.00 a.m. on July 24, 1986 the accused started quarreling
with hi.s wife and demanded money which she had earned sometime back by
selling aga::-b.attis. Thereafter he poured kerosene on her and set her on fire
by a matchstick. PW 3 Rasheed (son ofthe accused) saw th.e incident and ran
to the house of his maternal grandmother PW Uaina Bi, who lived at a short
d.istance away. Jaina Bi and her son .PW 2 Syed Akbar (deceased's elder
D brother) came rushing and saw that Muneeril Begum had sustained bum
injuries and the accused was also present there. ·Muneera Begum was then
taken to the Mission hospital in Habbagodi but the doctors advised that she
should be taken to Victoria Hospital in Bangalore. The police at Habbagodi
helped them in arranging a jeep on which Muneera Begum was taken to
E Victoria hospital, Bangalore where she was admitted at about 9.30 a.m. and
was examined by PW 12 Dr. KM Nagabhushan. He examined the injuries of
. the deceased and admitted her for treatment and a memo was sent to Victoria·
Hospital Police Station. PW 11 BK Krishnappa, ASI then came to the hospital
and recorded the statement of the deceased on the same day: Another statement
ofthe deceased was recordec. on 26th July, 1986. She however succumbed
F to her injuries on J1,1ly 31, 1986. After completing the inve~tigation the Police
submitted charge-sheet against the accused-respondent and in due course the
case was committed to the Court of Sessions. The prosecution examined in
all 15 witnesses and filed some documents.· The learned Sessions Judge
believed the case of the pr:osecutiOn and convicted the accused-respondent
G under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him .to imprisonment for life. The
appeal preferred by the accused was ·ailowed by the High Court and his
· conviction and sentence was set aside.

Shri M. Veerappa, learned counsel appearing for the State of Kamataka
has assailed the judgment and order of the High Court and has submitted that .
H the prosecution had adduced reliable evidence to establish its case and the
STATE OF KARNATAKA v. SHARIFF [G.P. MATHUR, J.) . 57?°

High Court has erred in discarding the testimony of the witnesses and also .A
several dying declarations of the deceased which were reliable and trustworthy
and the reasons given for acquitting the accused are ·wholly perverse and
contrary to settled principles of law.

Shri Ajay Kumar Jain, who appeared Amicus Curiae for the accused-
respondent; has submitted that the evidence on record adduced by the B
prosecution was wholly untrustworthy and in the facts and circumstances of
the case the dying declarations of the deceased could not be relied upon and,
therefore, the High Court was perfectly justified in acquitting the accused-
respondent. Shri Jain has further submitted that at any rate this was a case in
which two views were possible and the High Court having taken a view in C
favour of the accused and having acquitted him, it will not be proper for this
Court to interfere with the impugned judgment and order and to convict the
accused.

In order to consider the contentions raised by the learned counsel for
the parties, we will briefly refer to the evidence on record. PW I Jaina Bi is D
the mother of the deceased, Muneera Begum. She has stated that she had
given a small piece of land to the.accused where he had constructed a house
and was liv.ing with his family. This was about 1/4 furlong from her own
-1
house. Afterthe birth of the third child, the accused used to complain that the
food items in the house were getting exhausted very quickly. He used to beat E
the deceased quite often. A Panchayat was held in the village wherein the
accused was asked to treat his wife properly. About two months before the
occurrence, the deceased went to her maternal uncle's house on account of
ill-treatment of her husband. The accused then approached the members of
the Panchayat for bringing her back. The deceased was thereafter virtually
forced to come back and to start living with her husband. Si.milar statement F
has been given by" PW 2 Syed Akbar and PW 7 Baknu who are the elder . ·
brothers of the deceased and PW 6 Abdul Razak, a resident of the same
village. The testimony of these witnesses establishes the fact that the accused
had no love or affection for his wife and had been ill-treating her for quite
some time.
G
On the factum of incident the prosecution examined PW 3 Rasheed
who is the son of the accused-respondent and was aged about 8-9 years at the
time of the incident. He has stated that his father used to beat his mother
almost everyday. In the night his brother, sister and parents slept in the
house. He woke up in the early morning and saw that his mother was burning. H
578 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003) I S.C.R.

A in fire and his father was standing there. He immediately ran to his maternal
uncle's house to call him. Thereafter his grandmother PW I Jaina Bi and
~·
maternal uncle PW 2 Syed Akbar came to his house.

The most important evidence in. this case is the series of statements
given by deceased Muneera Begum to different persons on several occasions.
B PW 2 Syed Akbar has stated that his nephew PW 3 Rasheed came to his
house at about 6.00 a.m. on July 24, 1986 and informed him that his father
had burnt his mother. He then immediately rushed to the house of his sister +-,.
and inquired what had happened and then she said that her husband had tied
her· hands and legs, covered her mouth and after pouring kerosene had set her ·
c on fire. PW 6 Abdul Razak resides in the premises of the mosque in the same
village. He has stated that when he was returning from the mosque at 6.00
a.m. after finishing the prayers, he saw a crowd near the house of the accused.
He went there and found Muneera Begum in burnt condition and. when he
.¥
inquired as to how it had happened, she told that her husband had tied her
hands and legs, poured kerosene and brunt her. She could not raise any alarm
D as the accused covered her mouth with a cloth. PW 7 Baknu is another
brother of the deceased and was working in Hosur stone quarry. According
to his statement he received information about the incident at about 8 O'clock
and thereafter he reached Victoria Hospital the same night.. The deceased
informed him that her husband had tied her hands and legs, poured kerosene \
-.J(
E and had set her on fire. No doubt PW. 2 Syed Akbar and PW 7 Baknu are
real brothers of the deceased, but PW 6 Abdul Razak is not related to her in
l·
any manner. He is the Imam in the mosque. There is no reason why he would
give a false statement in order to implicate the accused. PWs 2 and 7 would
not fabricate astory and falsely implicate the accused Shariff as he was also
related to them as their brother-in-law. In our opinion the testimony of these
F three witnesses is quite reliable and it shows that the deceased Muneera .
· Begum made a statement that her husband had tied her hands and legs and ._I.._

after pouring kerosene had set her on fire in the m_orning of July :!4, 198().

As mentioned earlier the deceased Muneera Begum wa8 taken to Victoria r-
Hospital, Ba~gal~re for treatment. PW 12 Dr. K.M. Nagabhushan was posted
G as Assistant Surgeon in the aforesaid hospital and was working as Casi.laity
Medical Officer on. July 24,. 1986. He has stated that Muneera Begum W8$
brought to the hospital at about 9.30 a.ni. with bum injuries by her brother
.:.;..-.
Syed Akbar; She gave her own statement with regard to the incident and )
stated that she sustained burn injuries when her husband poured kerosene on
H her body and set .her o.n fire in his house at about 4.00 ~.m. He. has further
STATE OF KARNATAKA v. SHARIFF [G.P. MATHUR, I.] 579

stated that on examination he found her to be conscious and was answering A
the questions properly and her orientation was good. After examining her he
made the necessary entries in the Accident Register and the relevant extract
of the same have been proved by the witness as Exh. Pl2 and the same reads
as under:-

"Patient says that she sustained bum injuries when her husband Shariff B
thrown kerosene oil over her body in her house and put fire to it on
24.7.86 at 4.00 a.m.
There was a quarrel between her and her husband for the last two
days.
c
On examination patient is conscious. Pulse 86/minute.
CVS/RS NAD
Answers well to the question and orientation was good.
Brought by Akbar (brother) D
Kerosene smell over the body of the patient."
Besides above two other dying declarations were recorded by Sub-
Inspectors of Police Station Victoria Hospital and Anekal Police Station on
July 24, 1986 and July 26, 1986 respectively. PW II BK Ktishnappa was E
AS! Vict<iria H<lspital Police Station. His statement shows that after receiving
a memo from PW 12 Dr. Nagabhushan that Muneera Begum was admitted
in the hospital with burri injuries, he made the necessary entry in the general
diary and went to the hospital. He sought permission from PW 5 Dr.
Rangarajan, who was on duty, to record the statement of Muneera Begum.
Thereafter in the presence of the Doctor he recorded her statement which is F
fairly a detailed one. In her statement she gave details about the past conduct .
and behaviour of her husband leading to an earlier complaint at police station
against him. She further stated that accused picked up a quarrel on July 24,
1986, tied her hanqs and legs and thereafter poured kerosene and set her on
tire. She also stated that sh~ tried to raise an alarm but the accused placed G
a cloth over her mouth. The dying declaration has been quoted in extenso in
the judgment of .the learned Sessions Judge and it is therefore not necessary
to reproduce the same here.

PW 14 Kumar Swamy was posted as PSI at Anekal Police Station. He
took over investigation of the case on July 26, 1986. He went to Victoria H
..
580 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003) 1. S.C.R.

A Hospital on the same. day and after obtaining permission from PW S Dr..
Rangarajan, recorded the statement of Muneera Begum which is Ex·, P4. In ~
this statement also she stated ·that for the last ~wo years the accused was
abusing and beating her. She had made a complaint at police station and the
police warned him to behave properly. Her husband was working as a labourer
and she was also making some money by making agarbattis. On July 21,
B 1986 she had given Rs.JOO to him. She alongwith her husband and. children
slept in the house on July 24, 1986 aitd at about4.00 a.m. in the morning her· .
.~usband picked up a quarrel .and. asked about· some mor.e money. Then .he
+-·
poured kerosene oil over her and set her on fire. She tried. to scream but hei'
husband gagged.her mouth by a cloth. This statement Ex.·P4 has also been.
c quoted in extenso in the judgment of the learned ~essions JUdge and therefore
we are not reproducing it here.

The accused in his statement under Section 3l3 Cr.P.C. simply denied ~
the case of the prosecution and alleged to have been .falsely .implicated. He
however did not lead any evidence in his defence ..
D ...
The evidence on record, gist of which has been given above~ shows that
for the preceding two years the accused Shariff had been .m~treating. ·and
beating his wife Muneera Beguni. In this regard complaints were made at the
Police Station and also with the Panchayat of the village who called the
accused ~d asked him to behave properly. The deceased was earning some
E money from making agarbattis but the accused forced her to part with the
same. Thus, the evidence shows .that the relations between the accused and.
his wife were far from cordialand he had hardly any love and affection for
her.

The learned Sessions Judge has held that looking to the age of PW3
,f
RQsheed and some statements made by him in his cross~examination, it would
be unsafe to conclusively rely on his testimony that he saw his father standing
in t}te house when the body of his mother was burning. At the same time
. placing reliance upon ~e· testimony of PW 1 Jaina Bi and PW 2 Syed Akbar
that it was PW 3 Rasheed who had gone and ·inform&! ·them about the incident,
G he has held that.it would be i'ea5onable to hold .that PW 1 and PW2 went to
the spot only· after learning from .PW3 abo_ut this inc.ident. The High Court
has completely discarded the testimony. of PW 3.
:.+---- :..
In our: opinion the view taken by the learned Sessions Judge that it .
would be unsafe to rely upon the· testimony of PW 3 ·regarding the actual .
H factum of incident is not correct; A boy aged .8/9 years would be ·near his ...

. I
STATE OF KARNATAKA v. SHARIFF [G.P. MATHUR, J.] 581

mother and would be sleeping in the same house where she was sleeping. .A
There was no occasion for him to go to the house of Jaina Bi and to sleep
with her. If PW 3 was not present in the house and was in the house of her
grand-mother in t.he night in question, he could not have conveyed the
information about the incident to PW I and PW i nor they would have come
to kno~ about the incident forthwith. If PW 3 was present in the house he
was· bound to witness the incident, namely picking up quarrel by the accused B
with his wife and setting her on fire. There was absolutely no reason why PW
3 would give a false statement against his own father that he had tied the
hands and legs of his mother and had burnt her. We are of the opinion that
the testimony of PW3 is fairly reliable on the factum of the incident and the
same cannot be discarded only on account of a stray sentence in his cross- C
examination where he has stated that when his mother caught fire he was in
his grand-mother's house. The High Court did not examine the testimony of
this witness carefully and we find ourselves unable to agree with the view
taken by it.

The other important piece of evidence against the accused is that of D
dying declarations and the most important one is that which was made by her
to PW 12 Dr. KM Nagbhushan, Assistant Surgeon in the Victoria Hospital,
Bangalore. He was the first doctor to examine her when she reached there at
9.30 a.m. The witness has clearly stated that the deceased gave her own
statement with regard to the history and stated that she sustained bum injuries E
when her husband poured kerosene and set her on fire on the same day at
4.00 a.m. He recorded all these facts in the Accident Register and relevant
extract of the same l)as been brought on record and has been proved by him
as Ex. P.12. There is absolutely no reason to discard the testimony of PW 12,
who is a responsible government servant. The other two dying declarations
were recorded by PW 11 BK Krishnappa AS! Victoria Police Station on July F•
24, 1986 and by PW 14 Kumar Swamy, PSI Anekal Police Station on July
26, 1986. These are fairly long dying declarations where she gave the
background of the incident and also stated the fact that the accused picked
up a quarrel in the morning of July 24, 1986 and thereafter-. after pouring,
kerosene set her on fire. These two dying declarations were recorded in the . G
presence of PW 5 Dr. Rangarajan who was Assistant Surgeon in the Victoria
Hospital at the relevant .time. He made an endorsement Iha! the dying
__,.,..
. declaration was recorded in his presence and thereaft~r he put his signature
on the same. He has made a categorical statement that at the time when the
statement of the deceased was being recorded on both the occasions, she was
conscious and was in a fit condition to make a statement. In our opinion the H
,/•

582 SUPREME COURT REPORTS
. .
[200311.
.
s:c.R
..
..
A ·aforesaid three dying dec1arations are wholly trustworthy and there· is absolutely
no reason at all to discard the same. Though PW 2 Syed A;kbar arid· PW 6
Abdul· Razak, who r~ached ·the spot· in the village immediately after the
occurrence, have also stated in their Statements that the deceased told them
tha_t Ii was the accused. who had set fire to her and. their testimony in our
opinion is :trustworthy, but even if we do not take into consideration the
B aforesaid oral dying declaration of the deceased, the three dying declarations
referred to above,
' ·...
are. quite. sufficient to fasten the liability
' . . .
~pon
.•··
tbe accused. ·

Now we may·ccinsider the reasons give~ by the Higl:l cOurt for discarding
· the dying declatatl9iis. One of the main reason is. that the PQlice officers PW
c 11, and PWJ ~-Were ,not justified in recording the dying deCtaratfons themselves
·when the 'patient was. in the Victoria hospital at Bangalore and. they could .
have 'easily 'secured the services Of a Magistrate to record the ,same. The
second reason is that the statements recorded· by ·PW · l l and PW 14 are in
is
a narrative form and the third. reason. th~t the· deceased while making the
statementwas speaking in Kannada and Urdu languages, butExh.·Pll and
D P4 have been recorded in Kannada iangtjage only.· The High Court discarded
the statement of PW 12 l)r. KM Nagabhushan·on th.e ground that"by the time
her statement was recorded, a period of six hours had elapsed and as she had
·sustained 67% bum injuries, it was not possible to accept that the deceased
gave any statement to him. · · ·

· the ear!iest case _in which the taw on
the point of dying declaration was
considered in· detail by this Court is. Khushal R,ao v. Siate of Bombay, AIR
(19.58) SC 22. The Court ruled that if cannot be laid down as an absolute rule
of law that a dying declaration cannot form the sole basis of conviction
unless it -is corroborated; each case must- be determined on its own facts
F keeping in view the circumstances in which the dying deciaration was made;
· it cannot be laid down as a general proposition that a dying d_eclaration is a
· weaker kind of evidence than other pieces _of evidence; a dying declaration
.· stands ori the same footing as another piece of evidence and has to be judged
in ihe light of surrounding circumstances and with reference to the principles
governing the weighing of evidence. It has been further held that in order to
G pass the test of reliability, a dying declaration has to be subjected to a .very
close scrutiny, keeping in view the fact that the statement has been made in
the absence of the accused who had no opportunity of testing the veracity of
the statement by cross-exar,nination. But once, the Court has come to the
conciusion .that the dying declaration was the truthful version as to the
H circumstances of the death and the a5sailants of the victim, there is no question
STATE OF KARNATAK_A v. SHARIFF [G.P. MATHUR, J.) 583

of further corroboration. A
In State ofUttar Pradesh v. Ram Sagar Yadav, AIR (1985) SC 416 the
Court speaking through Chandrachud CJ. held as under:

"It is well settled that, as a mauer of law, a dying declaration can be
acted upon without corroboration. See Khusha/ Rao v. State ofBomb«)!. B
[1958) SCR 552: AIR {1958) SC 22; Harbans Singh v. State of
Punjab, [1962) Supp. I SCR 104: AIR (1962) SC 439; Gopa/singh
v. State of MP., (1972] 3 SCC 268: AIR (1972) SC 1557. There is
not even a rule of prudence which has hardened into a rule of law
that a dying declaration cannot be acted upon unless it is corroborated.
The primary effort of the Court has to be to find out whether the C
dying declaration is true. If it is, no question of corroboration arises.
""t- It is only if the circumstances surrounding the dying declaration are
not clear of convincing that the Court may, for its assurance, look for
corroboration to the dying declaration ..........."

In K. Ramachandra Reddy & Anr. v. The Public Prosecutor, [1976] 3 D
SCC 618 it was held that a great solemnity and sanctity is attached to the
words of a dying man because a person on the verge of death is not likely
to tell lies or to concoct a case so as to implicate an innocent person yet the
Court has to be on guard against the statement of the deceased being a result
of either tutoring, prompting or a product qf his imagination. It was further E
held that the Court must be satisfied that the deceased was in a fit state of
mind to make the statement after the deceased had a clear opportunity to
observe and identify his assailants and that he was making_ the statement
without any influence or rancour. Once the Court is satisfied that the dying
declaration is true and voluntary it can be sufficient to found the conviction
even without any further corroboration. In Pothakamuri Sriniv.:..utu v. State F
ofA.P., [2002] 6 SCC 399 it has been held that ifthe deceased made statement
to the witnesses and their testimony is found to be reliable the same is
enough to sustain the conviction of the accused. In Mafabhai Nagarbhai
Raval v. State of Gujarat, AIR (1992) SC 2186 it was held that the Doctor
who has examined the victim was the most competent witness to speak about G
her condition.
-~-
It is true that PW I I and PW 14 were Police personnel and a Magistrate
could have been called to the hospital to record the dying declaration of
Muneera Begum, however. 'fbere is no requirement of law that a dying
declaration must necessarily be made to a Magistrate. In Bhagirath v. State H
584 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2003] I S.C.R.

.A of Haryana, AIR (1997) SC 234 on receiv1ng message from the hospital that
a person with gun ·s1lot injuries had been admitted a head constable rushed
..· to the place after making entry in the police register and after obtaining
certificate from the doctor about the condition of the injured took his statement
for the purposes ofregistering the case. It was held that the statement recorded
by the head constable was admissible as dying declaration. Similar view was
B taken in Munnu Raja & Anr. v. State of Madhya Pradesh, [1976] 2 SCR 764,
wherein the statement made by the deceased to the investigating officer at the
police station by .way of First Information ·Report, which was recorded in
writing, was. held to be admissible in evidence.

C The other reaso.n given by the High Court is that the dying declaration
was not in question~answer form. Very often the deceased.is merely asked as
to how. the incident took place and the statement is recorded in a narrative
fonn. In fact such a statement is more natural and gives the version of the -v·
incident as it has been perceived by the victim. The question whether a dying
declaration which has not been recorded in question-answer fonn can be
D accepted in evidence or not has been considered by this Court on several
occasions. Jn Ram Bihari Yadav v. State of Bihar & Ors., [1998) 4 SCC 517,
it was held as follows .:

"It cannot be .said that unless the dying declaration is in question- ·
· ..answer fonn, it could not be accepted. Having regard to the san~tify
E.
attached to a dying declaration. as it comes from the niouth
.
of a dying·
person though, unlike the principle of English law he need not be
under. apprehension of death. It should be in th~ actual words of the
inake'r of the declaration. Generally, the dying declaration ought to be
recorded in the fonn of questions and answers but if a dying declaration ·
F is not elaborate but consists of only a few sentences ·and is in the
actUal words of the maker the mere fact that it is not in question-
answer fonn cannot be a ground against its acceptability or reliability.
The mental condition of the maker of the declaration, alertness of
mind,. memory and understanding of what he is saying,. are. matters
which can be observed by any persoIJ.. But to lend assurance to those
G factors having regard to the import~nce of the dying declaration, the
. certificate of a medically trained person is insisted upon ........."

··In Padmaben Shamalbhai Patel v. State of Gujarat, [1991] 1 SCC 744
if was held that the failure on the part of the medical men to record the
H statement of the deceased in question and answer form cannot in any mariner
STATE OF KARNATAKA v. SHARIFF [G.P. MATHUR, J.) 585

affect the probative value to be attached to their evidence. This view was A
..--.J, reiterated in State of Rajasthan v. Bhup Ram, (1997) 1 Crimes 62 and Jai
Prakash & Ors. v. State of Haryana, (1998] 7 SCC 284.

We are a little surprised that the High Court took the view that having
regard to the nature of injuries sustained by the deceased she could not have
been in a.position to make a statement. PW 12 Dr. KM Nagabhushan clearly B
recorded in the Accident Register that the patient was conscious, her orientation
was good and that she answered well to the questions. He also noted that her
pulse was 86/minute, CVS/RS was NAO. PW 5 Dr. Rangarajan before whom
the statements of the victim were recorded by PW 11 and PW 14 on 24th and
26th July, 1986 respectively deposed that she was able to speak. He clearly C
stated that it is not true that the victim was not in a condition to make
statement or that she was unconscious. In view of this clear statement of the
-~
Doctor that the victim was in a position to make a statement, the High Court,
in our opinion erred in discarding the dying declarations merely on the basis
of her injury report and post-mortem examination report. PW 4 Dr. KH
Manjunath who had performed the post-mortem examination, had merely D
stated that he was not in a position to say if the victim was in a position to
talk after sustaining the injuries and till she died. The last ground given by
the High Court is regarding the language spoken by the deceased. PW 5 Dr.
Rangarajan has stated in para 2 and 3 of his statement that the victim was
answering in Kannada language in which language her statement was recorded E
by PW 11 and PW 14. We are therefore of the opinion that the view taken
by the High Court is wholly perverse and also contrary to settled principles
of Jaw and therefore cannot be sustained. •

In the result the appeal succeeds and is hereby allowed and the impugned
judgment and order of the High Court is set aside and that of the learned F
Sessions Judge is restored.-The accused-respondent shall surrender and undergo
the sentence imposed by the learned Sessions Judge. The Chief Judicial
Magistrate concerned shall take immediate steps to take the accused-respondent
in custody. Shri Ajay Kumar Jain, learned Advocate, who appeared Amicus
Curiae has rendered valuable assistance in deciding this case and we are
beholden to him.

N.J. Appeal allowed.