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Supreme Court Of India

(From : Karnataka)*

Hon'ble Judge(s): Doraiswamy Raju, Arijit Pasayat , JJ

(A) Evidence Act (1 of 1872) , S.32— Dying declaration - Grounds of admission - Principle indicated in legal maxim "nemo moriturus proesumitur mentiri - A man will not meet his maker with a lie in his mouth," applies. Clause (1) of S. 32 makes relevant what is generally described as dying declaration, though such an expression has not been used in any statute. It essentially means statement made by a person as to the cause of his death or as to the circumstances of the transaction resulting in his death. The grounds of admission are; firstly, necessity for the victim being generally the only principal eye-witness to the crime, the exclusion of the statement might deflect the ends of justice; and secondly, the sense of impending death, which creates a sanction equal to the obligation of an oath. The general principle on which this species of evidence is admitted is that they are declarations made in extremity, when the party is at the point of death and when every hope of this world is gone, when every motive to falsehood is silenced, and the mind is induced by the most powerful considerations to speak the truth; a situation so solemn and so lawful is considered by the law as creating as obligation equal to that which is imposed by a positive oath administered in a Court of justice. The principle on which dying declaration is admitted in evidence is indicated....