IMPORTANT POINT
The court upheld the convictions based on the reliability of the dying declaration and corroborative evidence, affirming the principles governing the admissibility of such declarations.

JUDGMENT :

Ramesh Sinha, CJ.

1. Since the above-captioned appeals arise out of a common factual matrix and impugned judgment, this Court is disposing of both the appeals by a common judgment.

2. These criminal appeals preferred under Section 374(2) of the CrPC are directed against the impugned judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 25.08.2023 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Bhatapara, District – Balodabazar-Bhatapara (C.G.), whereby the appellant - Ajay Verma has been convicted under Sections 302 and 201/34 of the IPC and sentenced for life imprisonment & fine of Rs.1,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo R.I for 6 months and R.I. for 3 years & fine of Rs.500/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo R.I. for 1 month, whereas the appellant - Amanchand Routiya has been convicted under Sections 201/34 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo R.I. for 3 years & fine of Rs.500/-, in default of payment of fine, to further undergo R.I. for 1 month.

3. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that the complainant Meghnath Yadav (PW-1) lodged a report in Police Station Suhela, alleging therein that Kumari Ganga Yadav (deceased), the daughter of her elder brother Buddha alias Umannath Yadav, aged 18 years, is having a love affair with accused Ajay Verma of the village. In the midnight of 16-17.08.2020, Ganga Yadav's brother Lalla Yadav came home and told that Ganga Yadav had come home running away from the fire. On being informed, he immediately went to her house and saw that she was in bad shape due to burnt in fire, then he went to call former Sarpanch Devcharan Soni and Khuman Dhruv for help and after calling, they took Ganga Yadav in 108 ambulance to Balodabazar, from where she was referred to Raipur. Ganga Yadav was not able to talk. After being taken to hospital, when she started talking, she told her family that on 16-17.08.2020 at 12:00 pm, accused Ajay Verma had talked to her on phone and called her to meet at the Yadav Samaj building. She had gone there to meet. Accused had a fight with Ganga Yadav and with intention to commit her murder, he poured kerosene on her, set her on fire, burnt her and ran away. Then she came running home saying save me, save me. She told about burning by Ajay Verma.

4. Based on the information of Meghnath Yadav (PW-1), the First Information Report under Section 307 IPC was registered by Roshan Singh Rajput (PW-18) and on 18.08.2020 visual map (Ex. P-02) of the incident site was prepared and during the course of investigation, Panchnama (Ex. P-03) was prepared in front of the witnesses and notice (Ex.P-14) was given to witnesses Mahesh Kumar Verma (PW-04) and Devcharan Dhruv (PW-07) to remain present during interrogation of accused Amanchand Routiya and Ajay Verma. On date 18.08.2020, memorandum statement (Ex.P-17) of accused Ajay Verma was recorded in the presence of witnesses. On being told by the accused that the mobile through which Ganga Yadav was called to meet was kept in his pant’s pocket, a mobile of Vivo Company was seized in front of the witnesses and a seizure sheet (Ex.P-19) was prepared. On date 18.08.2020, the memorandum statement (Ex.P-15) of accused Amanchand Routiya was recorded as stated by him. The black colored fullshirt used by accused Amanchand Routiya to clean the incident site was said to be hidden on top of Yadav Bhavan. When the accused took out from the roof of Yadav Bhavan in front of the witnesses, a one liter water bottle which smelled of kerosene and some quantity of kerosene was left, a matchbox, a pair of red slippers, a black colored fullshirt were seized in the presence of witnesses and a seizure sheet (Ex.P-16) was prepared.

5. Half-burned clothes worn by Ganga Yadav at the time of the incident, which had the smell of kerosene, were collected from five places in the ground near the spot of the incident and seized in front of witnesses, vide seizure sheet (Ex.P-18) and on 09.09.2020, on presented by Taleshwar Yadav, a m