| DATE OF JUDGMENT | Mar 19, 1985 |
| COURT | Allahabad High Court |
| APPELLANT | Nathu Singh |
| RESPONDENT | State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. |
INTRODUCTION:
In this case the appellant i.e Nathu singh has filed an appeal by special leave petition against the decision of both High Court and Session Judge as they have convicted him for the life imprisonment in murder case. Further the Supreme Court also agreed with the decision of Lower court and convicted the accused on the basis of dying declaration of the deceased. The Court observed before convicting the accused on the basis of dying declaration that whether the Declaration was made by the deceased in the conscious and stable state of mind.
FACTS:
Nathu singh has made an appeal against the order of high court and session court which has convicted him under section 302 of IPC and the punishment pronounced was life imprisonment. The facts of the case are that Om Prakash Sharma was running a small business of bangles, where some people were labouring under him and one of them was Hari lal to whom the Nathu Singh (appellant) had lent some money. So, for the same purpose Nathu Simgh (appellant) went to the house of the Om Prakash (deceased) and asked for the lended money given to Hari Lal as he was labouring under him. To which Om Prakash (deceased) said that he cannot help in this matter and said him to deal with the Hari Lal himself. The appellant threatened the deceased that he should take a step for it otherwise he will make sure to close his business and after that they both started fighting and there was exchange of foul words between the two. The same night the Nathu Singh (accused/ Appellant) came to the house of deceased around 11pm in the night and stabbed the Om Prakash (deceased) in his abdomen. The appellant ran away after doing such and after few minutes the brothers of the deceased named Arun and Narendra Kumar came to whom the Om Prakash (deceased) told what happened. They then took there brother to the hospital named S.N.M . The doctor after examining the Om Prakash (deceased) said that the wound was huge and was sharply cut. Doctors at the hospital informed the police. The magistrate came next morning around 10:20 am and recorded Om Prakash’s dying declaration, along with the statement of the doctor regarding the injury. FIR on the basis of the statement was prepared, also the same day injured Om Prakash died . His post mortem examination was conducted on next morning at 11:30 a.m where they revealed about the brutal cut , the doctor mentioned that the cause of death was shock from the excessive pain and the wound was enough to cause death in the ordinary course of nature. The appellant denied that he was guilty of the happening but he could not show any witness or evidence in his favour. The learned session judge after observing all the evidences chose to rely on the dying declaration given by the deceased , then he passed the judgement in favour of the deceased and punished the appellant by giving him life imprisonment. Aggrieved by the decision of learned session judge the appellant moved to High Court. The High Court Judge also agreed with the decision of Session Judge and held the appellant guilty. Hence Nathu Singh (Appellant) filed an appeal in the Supreme Court.
ISSUES:
- Whether the decision made by the lower courts of convicting the accused is correct ?
CONTENTIONS:
BY APPELLANT:
- They claimed it to be a non voluntary declaration and said that the deceased was in the influence of both his brothers who took him to the hospital.
- It was also mentioned that the appellant was a prime witness against a murder case filed against his brother Arun kumar, so that is the main reason that his brother had influenced the deceased against him
- Moreover there was a huge time difference between the actual dying declaration and the time it was dictated by his brother Narendra Kumar in his examination in chief.
BY RESPONDENT:
They firmly contended that the dying declaration made by the deceased is correct and they should get justice for the murder of there brother, as he was brutally stabbed with a knife on his abdomen which lead to his death .
JUDGMENT:
The Honourable Supreme court said that it is true that there is no proper evidence in record which can show that the deceased has given a wrongful or was influenced by any person while giving his dying declaration. Moreover, the circumstantial evidence proved the dying declaration to be correct . The deceased has although not recorded the statement in question answer way but the statement was recorded in form of step by step way. It is true to say that the deceased has given the statement in his consciousness. The ingredients of the dying declaration firmly match with the FIR.
A case i.e Khushal Rao vs State of Bombay was mentioned by the session judge where it was said that every case has its own circumstances and according to that the dying declaration can be admissible if it is not corroborated. The important point to see is that whether the declaration was made in stable mental condition or not and here the certificate of it was given by the doctor. So, the dying declaration was considered reliable as it was without any corroboration. The conviction was therefore made valid and the court ordered the appellant to be taken into custody. So, the appeal of the Nathu Singh was dismissed by the honourable court.
ANALYSIS:
It is one of the landmark case as in this the conviction of the accused was done on the basis of dying declaration of the deceased. The Court observed it as a necessary step to check before convicting the accused Om the basis of dying declaration that whether the dying declaration was made by the deceased in the awake and conscious state of mind. If the dying declaration was made by the deceased in unconscious state and there is even a slight chance that the dying declaration is tainted, the court cannot convict the accused only on the basis of dying declaration as the accused is considered innocent until proven guilty.
CONCLUSION :
The Supreme Court’s judgment in Nathu Singh’s case reaffirms the legal principle that a dying declaration can serve as the sole basis for conviction if it is proven to be made in a conscious and stable state of mind. The Supreme Court emphasized the significance of dying declarations in the legal system by maintaining the lower courts’ convictions, so long as they satisfy the strict requirements of voluntariness and authenticity. This case highlights the need for courts to carefully examine dying declarations in order to guarantee that justice is done while protecting the accused’s rights.
REFERENCES :
This Article is written by Deepika , G.H.G Institute of Law, Sidhwan Khurd, Intern at Legal Vidhiya .
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