Merely Failing To Certify Victim's State Of Mind Doesn't Make Dying Declaration Unreliable: Orissa High Court

The Orissa High Court has held that failure on the part of the doctor to certify the 'state of mind' of deceased before recording her/his dying declaration will not make the same wholly unreliable, if the doctor is otherwise satisfied that the victim was in a fit state of mind to give the declaration. " Each case, therefore, turns on its own facts and it cannot be laid down as inviolable general rule that without certification of the state of consciousness of the deceased, a dying declaration recorded without such endorsement should be rejected.Merely because he did not endorse on the bed head ticket that the victim was in a conscious state would not mean that no such statement was ever made by her. While holding so, the Trial Court relied upon the dying declaration made by the victim before the attending doctor at the District Headquarter Hospital, Puri. Contentions of the Appellant: Mr. Bikram Chandra Ghadei, Advocate appearing for the appellant pointed out that there was no certification by the doctor that the victim was conscious and in a fit state of mind to make the declaration and thus, the Trial Court ought not to have accepted the dying declaration.