New Delhi: An authentic dying declaration that inspires the confidence of the court can be relied upon and be the sole basis for the conviction of an accused without any corroboration, the Supreme Court has said.
The top court made this observation May 15 while upholding the conviction of an ex-army personnel for murdering his wife, a police constable, in Maharashtra’s Beed district 22 years ago.
It said that the court has to scrutinise the dying declaration carefully and ensure it is consistent, credible and devoid of tutoring.
“Once a dying declaration is found to be authentic and inspiring the court’s confidence, then the same can be relied upon and can be the sole basis for conviction without any corroboration.
“However, before accepting such a dying declaration, the court must be satisfied that it was rendered voluntarily, is consistent and credible, and is devoid of any tutoring. Once such a conclusion is reached, a great deal of sanctity is attached to a dying declaration and as said earlier, it can form the sole basis for conviction,” a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said.
PTI