‘Dying declaration cannot form basis of conviction if it is not trustworthy'

A dying declaration made by a victim, accusing a person of having been responsible for his/her death, cannot form the basis of conviction if it suffers from infirmity, the Supreme Court has held. Likewise, where the deceased is unconscious and could never make any declaration, the evidence with regard to it is to be rejected.” Writing the judgment, Justice Sathasivam said: “Though there is neither a rule of law nor of prudence that dying declaration cannot be acted upon without corroboration, the court must be satisfied that it is true and voluntary and in that event, there is no impediment in basing conviction on it without corroboration. It is the duty of the court to scrutinise the dying declaration carefully and ensure that it is not the result of tutoring, prompting or imagination.” In the instant case, appellant Surinder Kumar was convicted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to undergo life imprisonment for causing the death of his friend's wife by pouring kerosene on her and setting her ablaze. In such circumstances, the dying declaration was totally unacceptable, could not be believed as trustworthy, which was rightly not believed so by the trial Court.” The Bench pointed out that all the principles laid down by this court were fully adhered to by the trial court and rightly acquitted the accused, but on wrong assumption the High Court interfered with the order of acquittal.