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Source: DNA newspaper dated 13th June 2013, p. 10. Article by Kanu Sarda
Dying declaration enough to nail guilty: SC
It's court's duty to decide that the deceased was in a fit state of mind.
Calling the dying declaration of a person as credible and enough for
convicting an accused, the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a man
who, insatiated by sexual desire and suspecting his wife of having an
affair, set her ablaze.
The verdict came on the plea of Jose, who killed his wife in want of more sex, which she was not capable because of her growing age.
Upholding the life imprisonment of Jose, a bench comprising justice BS Chauhan and Dipak Misra said, “Truth sits on the lips of dying man. Dying declarations made in extremity, when it is at the point of death, and when every hope of this world is gone, when every motive to falsehood is silenced and mind induced by the most powerful consideration to speak the truth and situation so solemn that law considers the same as creating an obligation equal to that which is imposed by a positive oath administered in a court of justice.”
The court said, “The obsession with the inferior endowments of nature made him to do a totally insensible act and ultimately, the addiction with the insatiated desire drove him to become frentic and frenzied to commit the crime. The lust led him to burn his wife and the result is the commission of offence for murder.”
The case dates back to 2002, when Jose who was living with his wife and daughter, son-in-law and two grand children, suspected that his wife was having a relationship with the son-in-law. The suspicion got aggravated due to her inability to satisfy his hunger for sex.
The anger led him, in the early hours of December 23, 2002 to pour petrol on his wife and set her on fire. She succumbed to injuries the next day.
Relying on the testimony of Jose’s wife, the court said, “The court should always be on guard to see that the statement of the deceased was not as a result of either tutoring or prompting or a product of imagination. The court also must further decide that the deceased was in a fit state of mind and had the opportunity to observe and identify the assailant.”
The verdict came on the plea of Jose, who killed his wife in want of more sex, which she was not capable because of her growing age.
Upholding the life imprisonment of Jose, a bench comprising justice BS Chauhan and Dipak Misra said, “Truth sits on the lips of dying man. Dying declarations made in extremity, when it is at the point of death, and when every hope of this world is gone, when every motive to falsehood is silenced and mind induced by the most powerful consideration to speak the truth and situation so solemn that law considers the same as creating an obligation equal to that which is imposed by a positive oath administered in a court of justice.”
The court said, “The obsession with the inferior endowments of nature made him to do a totally insensible act and ultimately, the addiction with the insatiated desire drove him to become frentic and frenzied to commit the crime. The lust led him to burn his wife and the result is the commission of offence for murder.”
The case dates back to 2002, when Jose who was living with his wife and daughter, son-in-law and two grand children, suspected that his wife was having a relationship with the son-in-law. The suspicion got aggravated due to her inability to satisfy his hunger for sex.
The anger led him, in the early hours of December 23, 2002 to pour petrol on his wife and set her on fire. She succumbed to injuries the next day.
Relying on the testimony of Jose’s wife, the court said, “The court should always be on guard to see that the statement of the deceased was not as a result of either tutoring or prompting or a product of imagination. The court also must further decide that the deceased was in a fit state of mind and had the opportunity to observe and identify the assailant.”
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