Dying Declaration

Title of the paper: Dying Declaration – an Analysis

Details of Author:

Name – Kumar Ankit

Course - BA.LLB (H)

Institution - Central University of South Bihar

Email id – k.ankit.law@gmail.com

Contact number - 9771100374

  Introduction:
Man is a sophisticated social animal who always adjusts himself to the changing needs of
the society. Crime and man have always been living together in the society in a co-
existential manner since time immemorial. In order to develop a society that works on the
principles of justice, it is very important to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice, and
to do that there are various ways and methods and one of such method is ‘Dying
Declaration’.

Dying Declaration as the name suggests is a kind of declaration that is made by a person
who has been a victim of the crime and this declaration works as evidence that is admissible
in court of law subject to the corroboration in certain cases. Now the question that comes
into mind is why this Dying Declaration is given this much importance, while providing
justice for certain crimes. The answer to this question lies in the maxim “Memo Mariturus
Presumuntur Mentri” which literally means that, ‘a man will not meet his maker with a lie
on his mouth.’

 Aspects of Dying Declaration:

Now let us have a look at the various aspects of the Dying Declaration. Following are the
aspects:

1.) Requirements1 – Section 32(1) of The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 states that a
statement may be oral or written. In addition to this explicit provision, court in the
case of ‘Emperor Vs Abdullah’2 prescribed certain requirements which are as follows:
 The statement must be as to;
a.) Cause of Death
b.) Circumstances of Transaction
c.) Resulting in Death

2.) Admissibility3 – Dying Declaration is admissible not only against the person causing
the death but also against other person participating in causing death. But one thing
that needs to be kept in mind is the fact that a person making the dying declaration
must, however, be competent at the time he or she makes a statement otherwise, it
is inadmissible. The above inferences have been drawn by the court in the case of
‘Sant Gopal Vs State of UP’4 . Also Dying Declaration is always moved by Prosecution
although some exceptional case arise where it is moved by defence.

1
Arundhati, Dying Declaration, Page 2
2
ILR 7 All 385
3
Id. , art. 1.
4
1995 Cr. L.J. (AIR)
 3.) Evidentiary Value of Dying Declaration5 – In the case of ‘Khushal Rao Vs State of
Bombay’6, apex court laid down some principles relating to dying declaration in which
the foremost observation was that, “a dying declaration can’t be a weaker kind of
evidence than any other piece of Evidence” only because it is in narration form.

4.) Exceptions to Dying Declaration7 - In the case of ‘State of UP Vs Madan Mohan’8

court stated certain exceptions to the Dying Declaration. These are as follows:
(a) If cause of death of deceased is not in question.
(b) If declarer is not a competent witness.
(c) Inconsistent Declaration
(d) Doubtful Features
(e) Uninfluenced Declaration
(f) Untrue Declaration
(g) Incomplete Declaration
(h) If statement relates to death of other person
(i) Contradictory statements
(j) Statement made by Unsound person
(k) If Dying Declaration is not according to prosecution

Note : Even though the deceased is not available to be cross-examined, the dying statement
may be used against the accused which totally depends on the discretion of the honourable
court.

5.) Dying Declaration and Hearsay rule9 - The basic rules around which the entire
evidentiary process rotate are as follows:
(a) Evidence may be given in a suit or proceeding only of the relevant facts and of
no others;
(b) Best evidence in all the cases should be given;
(c) Hearsay evidence should be excluded.

Also one should keep in mind that Dying Declaration is exception to the hearsay rule.

5
https://legalservicesindia.com/(last visited on March 22, 2020)
6
1958 AIR 22
7
https://legalservicesindia.com/(last visited on March 22, 2020)
8
AIR 1989 SC 1519
9
Dr. Onkar Nath Tiwari, Cogency of Dying Declaration, Page 2
 6.) Use of Dying Declaration10 - One important point worth noting here is the fact that
Dying Declaration is used in both Civil & Criminal Cases.

 Important Case laws On Dying Declaration

Dying Declaration is one of the most important aspects of Evidence law and its importance
can be understood from the fact that from time to time, various cases have been heard by
the honourable court which acts as a guiding principle for the operation of Dying
Declaration as a Type of Evidence. Some of these cases are as follows:11

 Sant Gopal Vs State of UP – 1995 Cri. LJ 312

 Mukesh Vs State – 2017 Cri. LJ 610
 Vinodkumar Baderbhai Patel Vs State of Gujarat – 1999 Cri. LJ 1650
 Krishan Vs State of Haryana – 2008 Cri. LJ 766
 SD Sapkale Vs State of Maharashtra – 2006 Cri. LJ 1156
 AI Parmar Vs State of Gujarat – 1999 GLR 1469

 Conclusion
Dying Declaration is admissible on the sole ground that it was made in emergency. In India
the admissibility of Dying Declaration is explained under Sec. 32(11) of Indian Evidence act,
1872. Despite being an important piece of evidence, Dying Declaration also suffers from
lacunas but that does not mean that it can be ignored at all.

Section 32(1) of the act has been inculcated in a manner that it covers every event possible
in respect of the statement that happens to be the last words of a person making he
declaration and thus it is called as a material piece of evidence.

Dying Declaration is one of the most important pieces of evidence, so every attempt should
be made to keep it away from all sorts of contamination, but still there are chances that
Dying Declaration can be manhandled. So, in order to bring a perpetrator of Crime to the
folds of justice, it is important to not sabotage it & preserve it so that the justice could be
done & received by the needy in purest and absolute form.

10
https://law.cornell.edu/wex.com/(last visited on March 22, 2020)
11
https://indiakanoon.com/(last visited on March 23, 2020)