Concept Of Dying Declaration: A Critical Analysis

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Dying declaration is an exception to the general rule and is based on the legal maxim “Nemo moriturus praesumitur mentire” which means that a man will not meet his maker with a lie in his mouth.
• The law regards the words of the dying person with great solemnity and sanctity on the grounds that, at the point of his likely departure from this world, he would not tell a lie, and excluding such evidence could result injustice, as the victim may be the only eye witness to the crime.
• In a recent case, the Supreme Court stated that a conviction might be reached simply based on a dying declaration without any further evidence provided the court is convinced that the dying declaration is true and voluntary, it can convict without further evidence.

INTRODUCTION

The general rule of law is that evidence that cannot be assessed is not admissible in a court of law, primarily because the procedure of assessing the accuracy of a particular statement is important before arriving at a decision. However, under some circumstances, for instance, when a man is on his deathbed and makes a statement pertinent to the cause of death, the law grants an exemption as a matter of necessity, which is known as a Dying Declaration.

Dying Declarations play a significant role in the field of evidence law, as outlined in Section 32 of the Evidence Act, 1872 and is one of the exceptions to the general rule set forth in Section 60 of the Evidence Act, which specifies that oral evidence must always be direct which to say in simpler words is evidence of testimony. But, with reference to section 32 it is seen that even if a dying declaration is not given under oath and the person who makes the statement cannot be cross-examined, the court acceptssuch evidence in a case. Further, the courts have attempted to develop various principles to control the admissibility of dying declarations over time. Thus, in this article, an attempt to analyze the legal status of dying declarations in India has been made referring to various landmark cases.

DYING DECLARATION

The Latin maxim on which the concept of dying declaration is present is "Nemo Moriturus Praesumitur Mentire" which states that a man will not meet his maker with a lie in his mouth. Under Indian law, it is considered that a dying man can never lie and that the truth is always on his lips. Thus, the legal term for a dying declaration is said to be "Leterm Mortem," which means "words spoken before death. " Before looking at the legal aspect of this concept, in simple words to explain it is a statement made by a person who is dying to eitherdisclose the cause of death or it could even be a hypothetical declaration. Therefore, in both the cases the courts have ruled that a deathbed declaration is admissible as evidence and can be used to prosecute the perpetrator. Thus, as stated the prevalent view is that most persons who are about to die do not lie, and that is the reason a deathbed pronouncement is considered believable and trustworthy evidence. As a result, it is considered as an exemption to the Hearsay Rule, which precludes the use of a statement made by someone other than the person who repeats it during a trial due to its inherent unreliability. However, the point to note here is that the statement could not be admitted into evidence if the person who madethe dying declaration had even the remotest possibility of recovery, no matter how improbable would be the case would not be taken into account.

In comparison with the English law, it is seen that a dying declaration must be made in the apprehension or prospect of death which is not the case under Indian law. The second difference that could be noted here is that even if the person making the statement did not expect to die at the time, the statement will be treated as a dying declaration if it is about any of the conditions of the transaction that could have caused the death under the Indian law whereas, in English law, a dying declaration could only be admissible in cases of homicide and murder. From these major differences on the concept of dying declaration under both the laws, it is clear that in India dying declaration is admissible in all cases when the cause of death is the concern but otherwise as well a dying declaration is valid evidence provided essential conditions are satisfied which would be discussed subsequently.

LEGAL PROVISION

As already stated, the concept of dying declaration is present under the Indian Evidence Act in Section 32. To understand this provision, we see that as per Section 32(1), it is an exemption to the general rule that prohibits the use of hearsay evidence. The rationale underlying the concept of a dying declaration is that if a person with first-hand knowledge of the issue is unable to appear before the court due to death or any other type of disability, his or her knowledge or information should be transferred to the court through another person. This section is considered to be important when a person with particular information is sought to have proved the information provided, but he or she has died or could not be traced, or his presence in the court could not be obtained for any other reason for which the proof should be provided. Furthermore, with reference to this particular section, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has made an observation at some instances that a victim's dying declaration accusing someone of being responsible for his or her death cannot be used as the basis for a conviction if it is found to be faulty.

To reiterate under section 157 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, a statement can be relevant when the person making it is expecting to die, regardless of the nature of the proceedings in which the cause of death is called into question. But, if the declarant lives after making the statement, it is inadmissible as a dying declaration and could be used to contradict or validate the credibility of the person who made such a statement.

Apart from this, it is pertinent to understand the forms of dying declaration that are considered under the law. It is generally the written, oral, gestures, and signs as a dying declaration that are considered by the courts. This was brough to attention only after the case Queen-Empress vs. Abdullah (1885), where the accused slit the throat of a declarant girl, rendering her speechless, but yet she was able to demonstrate who was guilty via signs created with her hands. Thus, the Allahabad High Court ruled that the dying declaration could be written, spoken, gestured, or signed.

EVIDENTIARY VALUE OF DYING DECLARATION

By now we understand, the evidentiary value of a dying declaration is based on important facts stated orally or in writing or any other form as discussed above by the deceased person. It is therefore considered to be a crucial piece of evidence, and a conviction can be based solely on such a declaration as rightly quoted by a famous person Mathew Arnold, “Truthis on the lips of dying men” which we see is supported in the law as well. Further, a dying declaration carries a lot of weight and might be used as the only basis for conviction, without the requirement for other evidence.

Hence, a dying declaration is evidence that can be used without further verification if it is confirmed to be true but the only condition that needs to be satisfied is that the declaration made should be looked by the courts if it’s true and reliable. Literally stating, the courts must ensure that the deceased's statement was not the result of tutoring or any kind of force was used to make such a statement. Having been convinced that the statement made was true and completely voluntary and not a suspicious one, the evidence would be considered admissible in the court.

In cases like Khushal Rao v. State of Bombay(1957), Kusa v. State of Orissa(1980), and K.R. Reddy v. Public Prosecutor (1976), the court has effectively explained the evidential importance of the Dying Declaration. To briefly stated, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has observed the following principles concerning the evidentiary value of a dying declaration:

• A dying declaration made by a person on the verge of death has a special sanctity since a person is unlikely to make an incorrect statement at that solemn moment.
• Conviction can be based only on a dying declaration and thus, a true and voluntary declaration does not require confirmation since the threat of death itself is enough to ensure the truth of the statement made.
• Each case must be decided on its own facts, taking into account the circumstances surrounding the declaration.
• A dying declaration must be treated the same as any other piece of evidence, and as stated must be considered in light of the circumstances and in accordance with the standards mentioned in law.
• A dying declaration recorded by the Magistrate in the form of a questionand answer would hold more significance in a case as compared to any other kind of dying declaration.
• To determine the reliability of a dying declaration, the court must consider factors such as the opportunity for observation of the dying man, the capacity to remember the facts, the consistency of the statements, and the fact that the statement was made at an earlier time and was not the result of tutoring by the interested parties.
• Lastly, it was mentioned that as a general rule, once the court is convinced that the dying declaration was true, voluntary, and not misled by any other considerations, it can convict without further confirmation and that seeking corroboration is just a guideline of prudence.
• Further, the Supreme Court in the case of Ram Nath Mahadeo Prasad v. State of M.P(1953), declaring that if a dying declaration is proven to be accurate, it can be trusted even if it is not corroborated.

JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS

The other cases that are necessary to know about while understanding the concept of dying declaration have been briefly covered below so that one could get a detailed understanding.

In the case of Lakhan v. State of M.P. (2010), the Supreme court stated that when the necessary conditions are met, the dying declaration made by the deceased is true and can be relied upon, as the declarant is found to be conscious and mentally fit while making the statement without compulsion. And thus, the statement made by him can be used as the sole basis of conviction.

It is important to note here that, with time questions arose on multiple dying declarations made. A relevant case to cite here is the case of Sudhakar v. State of Madhya Pradesh (2012), where the Supreme Court, in deciding the issue of multiple dying declarations that have no relation to each other held that when multiple dying declarations made by the declarant are discovered to be either contradictory or at odds with one another and portray a different version of the story, the test of common reasonableness is to be used to verify. In addition to that, the condition of the deceased at the time of each declaration concerned, the deceased's medical report, the truthfulness of statements made by the deceased, and the possibility of the deceased being tutored are some of the aspects that should be looked upon and could guide the court in coming to a decision.

Apart from that, dying declarations are made in cases of rape as well and to give an example, in the case of Shyam Singh Hada vs State of Rajasthan(2000), a woman who was the victim of gang rape and murder disclosed the crime to her husband before dying, and her statement was permitted to be confirmed by her husband's examination. According to the court, the statement was directly linked to and related to her death, and because of the sensitive nature of the situation, the fact of non-disclosure to other relatives could not be given importance.

Lastly, in the case of Harbans Singh vs State of Punjab (1962), the Supreme Court declared that it is neither a rule of law nor prudence that a dying declaration requires to be verified by other evidence before a conviction can be relied upon. Thus, the evidence provided by the dying declaration must be treated the same as that provided by any other witness, albeit some specific considerations must be taken into account when evaluating the value of a statement made in court by a person claiming to be a witness to the occurrence.Even in the recent case of State of U.P vs Veerpal (2022), referring to the various landmark cases it was decided that if the Court is satisfied that the dying declaration made is true and voluntary without any force it can base its conviction on it, without having any further corroboration.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, we can see that a dying declaration has high evidential value and could be the sole factor in an accused's conviction. It is an exception to the general rule as it deviates from existing standards because the statement and its validity cannot be cross-examined, therefore allowing hearsay evidence to be admitted. Furthermore, courts have issued various rules that need to be taken into account for the dying declaration to be admissible as evidence. Moreover, the courts have the authority to invalidate the dying declaration based on legitimacy, deeming it to be an untrustworthy source of evidence. As a result of the above cases, it is obvious that for the declaration to be admitted as a Dying Declaration, it must be carefully and duly proven before the court. Lastly, if the statement is found to be valid, the courts will largely favor it as a person on the verge of death has a special sanctity, and at that solemn moment, a person is most unlikely to make an incorrect statement.