It appears that such dying declaration cannot be considered as the sole basis for conviction and awarding sentence to the appellant, specifically in the absence of any of the witnesses who were present in the hospital during the time when the alleged dying declaration was made by such a critically injured person who was under intensive care and not supposed to be in conscious. As such the finding of the High Court Division that ‘the prosecution has clearly established the motive of the case and the oral dying declaration has also been supported by the medical evidence and other circumstances and materials on record’ is not sustainable in law. Consequently, the impugned judgment passed by the High Court Division basing on the such uncorroborated oral dying declaration against the present appellant is liable to be set aside. Accordingly, this criminal appeal is allowed. ...Rashed =VS= The State, (Criminal), 2019 (1) [6 LM (AD) 70] ....View Full Judgment

A conviction can be based upon a dying declaration if it is found true, voluntary and free from being tutored or influenced by others.
The persons who record the dying declaration must take care in recording the statement of the declarant/victim. A dying declaration is recorded when the attending doctor suspects that there is little chance of survival of the victim and intimates the near ones about his condition or the investigating officer so that the investigation officer can arrange for recording the dying declaration. If the dying man is capable of making a statement, any person may record his statement in the language of the maker. There is no hard and first rule in recording the such statement. It may be recorded by the investigation officer himself or by the attending doctor or by any relation of the victim. The court can act upon the dying declaration without being recorded by a Magistrate if the statement of the witness who proves the recording is found to be true and voluntary. .....Tofayel Ahmed =VS= The State, (Criminal), 2016-[1 LM (AD) 511] ....View Full Judgment

Considering all the three dying declarations, in the light of well-settled principles, this Court held that all the three dying declarations are true, voluntary and consistent. Insofar as third dying declaration, this Court, in paras (408) to (412) held that the dying declaration made through signs, gestures or by nods are admissible as evidence and that proper care was taken by PW-30 Pawan Kumar, Metropolitan Magistrate and the third dying declaration recorded by in response to the multiplechoice questions by signs, gestures made by the victim are admissible as evidence. In the third dying declaration, the victim also wrote the names of the accused persons “Ram Singh, Mukesh, Vinay, Akshay, Vipin, Raju”. So far as the name of accused Vipin written by the prosecutrix in the third dying declaration has been elaborately considered by this Court in paras (150) and (188) of the judgment. .....Mukesh =VS= State of NCT of Delhi, (Criminal), 2018 (1) [4 LM (SC) 101] ....View Full Judgment

On the basis of a dying declaration the trial court for an offence under section 302(b), PPC and was sentenced to death and to pay compensation but on appeal his sentence of death was reduced by the High Court to imprisonment for life.
A dying declaration is an exception to the hearsay rule and, thus, the same is to be scrutinized with due care and caution, particularly in the backdrop of the observations made by different Courts about veracity of a dying declaration in the Province of the Punjab and a reference in this respect may be made to the cases of Bakhshish Singh alias Bakhshi and others v. Emperor (AIR 1925 Lahore 549), Tawaib Khan and another v. The State (PLD 1970 SC 13) and Usman Shah and others v. The State (1969 P.Cr.L.J. 317).
The prosecution had failed to prove its case against Riyat Khan appellant beyond reasonable doubt.
Respondent No. 1 namely Riyat Khan has been acquitted by this Court today upon acceptance of his Criminal Appeal No. 236 of 2010. .....Muhammad Ameer =VS= Riyat Khan (Criminal), 2016-[1 LM (SC) 653] ....View Full Judgment

Dying declarations are statements made by a dying person as to the injuries which culminated in his death or the circumstances under which the injuries were inflicted.
Three conditions are required to be ful¬filled before a dying declaration is acted upon. The first condition is whether the victim had the physical capability to make the statement. Secondly, whether the witnesses heard the statement correctly and reproduced the names of the assailants correctly. Thirdly, whether the maker of the dying declaration had op¬portunity to correctly recognize the assail¬ants—the Evidence Act, 1872, Section 32(1). ….. [Md. Abul Khashem vs. The State, 15 BLD (HCD) 205]
A dying declaration is a valuable piece of evidence and if it is free from suspicion and believed to be true it may be sufficient for conviction. ….. [Shahbaz 9 DLR WPC]
If it stands the normal test for judging its veracity it becomes a wholly reliable piece of evidence, but if it does not, it is far worse than an ordinary statement of a witness. The value of dying declaration depends in a case on its own facts and the circumstances in which it is made. ….. [Bulu v. Sate 45 DLR 79]