IMPORTANT POINT
In cases where there are more than one dying declaration, it is duty of Court to consider each of them in its correct perspective and satisfy itself which one of them reflected true state of affairs.

JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-The appellants before us were charged of offences punishable under section 304B and 498A IPC and were sentenced to undergo RI for a period of 7 and 2 years respectively by the by the Sessions Judge, East Godavari District at Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. Said conviction and sentence of the appellants came to be confirmed by the High Court of Judicature, Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad by the impugned judgment. Now they are in appeal before us Prosecution case necessary for disposal of this appeal is as follows:

2. The first appellant before us is the son of appellant Nos.2 and 3 while appellant No.2 is the husband of appellant No.3. The first appellant was married to one Aruna Kumari which took place on 18.5.1990. It is the prosecution case that Aruna Kumari was the daughter of the sister of A-1. Thus, in reality Aruna Kumari had married her own maternal uncle. It is the further case of the prosecution that the appellants were constantly making demand from the parents of Aruna Kumari which, inter alia, included 1/3rd share in a house belonging to the parents of Aruna Kumari. Thus, the appellants were constantly harassing said Aruna Kumari. The prosecution in support of its case relating to harassment relied upon Ex. P-4 to P-6 - letters written by Aruna Kumari between 12th May and 5th August, 1991. Prosecution also relies upon a Panchayat Ex. P-8 which took place and an agreement Ex. P-9 executed by the accused 1 and 2 undertaking to look after Aruna Kumari properly and not to harass her. It is the further case of the prosecution that on 12.7.1992 at about 3 p.m. deceased doused herself with kerosene and set herself afire due to which she suffered severe burn injuries. She was then taken to Government Hospital, Kothapeta, where noticing her condition the doctor sent a requisition to the Munsif Magistrate to make arrangements to record her dying declaration. Consequent to this request the Munsif Magistrate, PW-13 proceeded to the Government Hospital and recorded the dying declaration Ex. P-28 at about 5.30 p.m. He states that before recording he asked the opinion of the doctor PW-10 whether the patient was in a fit condition to make a declaration and on being told that she was in a fit condition, he started recording her declaration. He states that while recording the said statement, he asked the Police and others attending on the patient to leave the room and he recorded her statement in a question and answer form. A perusal of this document Ex. P-28 shows that the deceased stated that she suffered the burn injuries accidentally because of a stove burst while she was preparing tea. There is nothing in this dying declaration to indicate even remotely that she committed suicide.

3. Soon after this dying declaration was recorded, PW-11 who was then working as a Head Constable in Kothapeta Police Station, having received an intimation from the hospital, proceeded to the hospital and recorded another statement of the deceased marked as Ex P-25. This statement also contains a certificate of PW-10 as to the condition of the patient to make a declaration. As per this dying declaration, the deceased stated that on being unable to bear the dowry demand and harassment meted out by her husband and in-laws, she poured kerosene on herself and set herself ablaze, consequent to which she suffered burn injuries. From the record it is seen that Aruna Kumari died at about 7.30 p.m. on the same day. During the course of investigation the prosecution examined nearly 14 witnesses out of whom PWs 1 to 5 and 7 speak to the demand of dowry made by the appellants as also the harassment meted out to the deceased. Prosecution has also produced Ex. P-4 to 7 - letters written by the deceased to her parents narrating the nature of dowry demand as also the harassment. Ex. P8 is a Memorandum drawn up by the Panchayatdars calling upon the appellants to give an undertaking to treat the deceased properly. Ex. P-9 is an undertaking given by A-1