AMOL SINGH versus STATE OF M.P.

Citation: [2008] 8 S.C.R. 956 · Decided: 15-05-2008 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: ARIJIT PASAYAT · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 8 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

[2008] 8 S.C.R. 956 
.. 
Ii" 
A 
AMOL SINGH 
., .., .. 
v. 
STATE OF M.P. 
(Criminal Appeal No. 898 Of 2008) 
B 
MAY 15, 2008 
(DR. ARIJIT PASAYAT AND P.SATHASIVAM, JJ.) 
~ 
Penal Code, 1860-s.302 r!w s.34- Murder- Two dying 
... 
declarations -
Inconsistency between, in respect of the mo-
c five and manner of murder- Conviction by Courts below - On 
•
appeal, held: Even if there is plurality in dying declarations, if 
it is voluntary, reliable and made in fit mental condition and 
> 
consistent, can be relied upon without any corroboration -
In 
case of inconsistency nature thereof has to be examined -
In 
D the instant case, the inconsistencies are material - Hence, 
conviction not called for -- Dying Declaration. 
Appellant-accused alongwith another accused was 
charged for having caused death of a woman. The de-
E ceased had made her dying declaration before ASl(PWS). 
Thereafter, she again made her dying declaration before 
the Executive Magistrate(PW9). Trial Court convicted both 
the accused uls.302 rlw s.34 IPC. High Court confirmed 
the conviction holding that though there were more than 
.. 
one dying declaration, the extent of variance between the 
,.. 
F two was insignificant. Hence the present appeal. 
Allowing the appeal, the Court 
HELD: 1. It is not the plurality of the dying declara-
tions but the reliability thereof that adds weight to the pros-
G ecution case. If a dying declaration is found to be volun-
tary, reliable and made in fit mental condition, it can be 
~ 
relied upon without any corroboration. The statement 
should be consistent throughout. If the deceased had 
several opportunities of making such dying declarations, 
H 
956 
AMOL SINGH v. STATE OF M.P. 
957 
.. " 
that is to say, if there are more than one dying declaration A 
they should be consistent. However, if some inconsisten-
cies are noticed between one dying declaration and the 
other, the court has to examine the nature of the incon-
sistencies, namely, whether they are material or not. While 
scruitinizing the contents of various dying declaration, in B 
such a situation, the court has to examine the same in the 
• 
light of the various surrounding facts and circumstances . 
[Para 8] [960-D,E,F] 
' 
Kundula Bala Subrahmanyam v. State of A.P 1993 (2) 
l 
sec 684 - referred to. 
c 
2. The High Court had observed that the dying dee-
laration (Exh.P11) scribed by the Executive Officer, (PW9) 
was not in conformity with the FIR and the earlier dying 
declaration (Exh.P3) scribed by ASI (PW 8) in so far as D 
different motives have been described. Several other 
discrepancie exist even as regards the manner in which 
she is supposed to have been sprinkled with kerosene 
and thereafter set on fire. Therefore, the discrepancies, 
make the last declaration doubtful. The nature of the in-
consistencies is such that there are certainly material. That E 
being so, it would be unsafe to convict the appellant 
[Paras 9 and 10] [960-G,H, 961-A,8] 
:> 
CRIMINALAPPELLATEJURISDICTION: CriminalAppeal 
No. 898 of 2008 
F 
From the Judgment and Order dated 18.06.2007 of the 
High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur in Criminal Appeal 
No. 399/1993 
Shiv SagarTiwari, R.R. Singh,Akanksha Tiwari and Pooja G 
• 
for the Appellant. 
Siddhartha Dave, Vibha Datta Makhija and Jemtiben for 
the Respondent. 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
H 
958 
SUPREME COURT REPORTS 
[2008] 8 S.C.R. 
A 
DR ARIJIT PASAYAT, J. 1. Leave granted. 
2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of the Divi-
sion Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur up-
holding the conviction and sentence of the appellant for the of-
fence punishable under Section 302 read with Section 34 of 
B the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the 'IPC') and sentence 
of imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.2,000/-with default stipu-
lation. AppellantAmol Singh was arraigned in the charge sheet 
asA2. 
c 
3. Prosecution version as unfolded during trial is as follows: 
Saraswati Bai-deceased was a woman of questionable 
character. After being deserted by her husband Motilal, she 
developed illicit relationship with A2 who ultimately kept her as 
mistress. At the relevant point of time, she was residing in 
D Tapariya (hut) at village Bichhua. 
On 171h March, 1992 at about 8.00 p.m. hearing screams 
of Saraswati Bai, persons residing in the neighbourhood viz. 
Rajesh Gupta (PW6), Santosh Gudda (PW2), Mukundi Lal 
E (PW4), Kaliram (PW5), Chhindami Lal (PW3), and Chandra 
Bhushan ru

Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.