No Prescribed Format Of Recording Dying Declaration But Courts Must Satisfy Whether It Was Made In 'Fit State Of Mind': Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court has made it clear that there is no prescribed format for recording a dying declaration and it may be either oral or in writing, however, any Court relying on it must ensure that it was made by the declarant in a 'fit state of mind'.

A division bench comprising Justices Subhash Chand and Ananda Sen observed, “It is the settled law that the dying declaration may be oral or in writing. But while relying dying declaration the Court has to satisfy whether it was made in fit state of mind. There is no prescribed format of recording the dying declaration. If the dying declaration is the oral and is very terse that may also inspires the confidence in regard its truthfulness.”

The observation was made while dismissing the appeal preferred by a life convict against his conviction for murder under Section 302 IPC. He was charged for stabbing his love interest, informant's wife, in the stomach in 2012. The deceased had made a dying declaration in an injured state to a villager Rudan Singh.

The Court observed that despite being stabbed, the deceased simultaneously caught hold of the accused and raised alarm. Therefore, it concluded that she was physically and mentally fit to make the dying declaration. It also observed that there was no occasion for a doctor to provide a certificate of her mental condition at the time of making the declaration, but her physical and mental condition was deemed fit by Rudan Singh, who witnessed her making the declaration.

The Court opined,

"The dying declaration made by the deceased while in injured condition was prompt and was in fit state of mind and from the very conduct of the declarant at the time of making dying declaration having caught hold of the culprit who had given her Bhujali blow is ample evidence in regard to her physical and mental state of mind. Therefore, even without any certification of the Doctor such dying declaration shall be admissible and reliable."

Consequently, the Court held that the testimony of Rudan Singh was partly admissible as an eyewitness to the part of the occurrence and partly admissible as a witness to the dying declaration made by the deceased while in an injured condition.

It rejected the plea raised by the convict's counsel that the dying declaration was not explained to him. It said that from question put to the appellant-convict while recording his Section 313 statement and the reply given by him, it was evident that the dying declaration was part of the testimony of Rudan Singh, along with the statements of other witnesses, which were explained by the trial court to the convict, including all incriminating circumstances therein.

Regarding the non-production of the murder weapon during trial, Court said that this was not fatal to the case because the seizure memo of the blood-stained “Bhujali” was well proved by the prosecution witnesses.

Accordingly, Court dismissed the appeal.

Case Title: Sandeep Kumar Tripathy @ Sandeep Tripathy vs The State of Jharkhand

LL Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Jha) 101

Click Here To Download Judgment