New Delhi, Jan 13: An oral dying declaration can be considered as evidence by a court if it was certified by a doctor that the victim was in a fit condition to make a statement, the Supreme Court has said.
The ruling came in a case in which a Bench comprising Justices P P Naolekar and L S Panta set aside the conviction and life sentence to an accused by the Bombay High Court based on the alleged statement of the victim given to his mother in the hospital.
The apex court took into consideration the fact that the prosecution had not brought forth the certification from the doctor, who had operated upon the victim that the deceased was in a fit condition to make a statement.
"The prosecution has not brought on record any medical certification to prove that after operation the deceased was in a fit condition to make the declaration before his mother," Justice Panta, writing the judgement for the Bench, said. The Bench held that the trial court and the High Court wrongly considered the alleged statement of the victim to his mother as dying declaration.
"The evidence of alleged oral dying declaration by the deceased to his mother relied upon by the prosecution and accepted by the trial and High Court, in our view, was not cogent, satisfactory and convincing to hold that the deceased before his death was in a fit condition to make oral declaration to his mother," the Bench said.
The Court noted that the alleged statement given after the operation could not be relied upon as the victim was lying on the bed in unconscious condition with oxygen tubes having been inserted in his nostrils.
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