A dying declaration can only serve as a basis for conviction if it is proven to be reliable and made in a fit mental state; otherwise, it cannot sustain a conviction.

Judgment :

(Ramesh Sinha, CJ.)

1. This criminal appeal is directed against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 11.12.2020 passed by the Special Judge (S.C./S.T. Act), Surajpur, District Surajpur (C.G.) in Sessions Trial No.42 of 2018, whereby learned Special Judge has convicted and sentenced the appellant as follows:-

( All the sentences were directed to run concurrently)

2. The prosecution case as unfolded during the course of trial is that the accused set fire to the house of Mona Singh, in which Mona Singh (since deceased), Shankar Kumar Ravi (PW-1) and Lado alias Samriddhi (PW-3) were injured. Mona Singh died during the course of treatment. Merg intimation (Ex.P/16) was registered stating that Mona Singh, wife of Shankar Kumar Ravi, was burnt in fire in her house on 03.05.2018, who was admitted to the hospital by her brother-in-law Besahu (PW-5) and sister Reshma, who died during the course of treatment. In this regard, accidental death was recorded in the register vide Ex.P/15 by the Lady Constable Bholi Rajwade. On the basis of the said death information (Ex.P/14), First Information Report was registered vide Ex.P/18. Crime details from was prepared vide Ex.P/2 and summons under Section 175 of the Cr.P.C. was given to the witnesses vide Ex.P/5. Inquest report was prepared vide Ex.P/6 and Nuksani Panchnama was prepared vide Ex.P/8. The spot map of the place of incident was prepared vide Ex.P/20. In this regard, when the statement of injured Lado alias Samriddhi (PW- 3) was taken, she told that at the time of setting the fire, she was in the house with her sister and brother-in-law and Arjun poured kerosene and set the fire with a matchstick. The statement of injured Shankar Kumar Ravi (PW-1) was also taken, he told about the incident of setting the fire and also told that Lado alias Samriddhi had heard the voice of accused at the time of setting the fire. He further stated that his brother closed the gate and sprinkled kerosene and lit it on fire with a matchstick. They broke the gate and came out. His brother's name is Arjun Singh Rajput, who lives in Agra Sirsaganj. He wants to usurp her property and he had tried to kill her 2-3 times and when she had gone to Agra, he had also fired a bullet at her once. Dying declaration of the deceased Mona Singh was recorded vide Ex.P/9 by Kishore Kumar Verma, Naib Tahsildar (PW-13). After the Panchnama proceedings, dead body of Mona Singh was subjected to postmortem examination, which was conducted by Dr. Mithlesh Minj (PW-23), who opined in the postmortem report (Ex.P/26) that the cause of death seems to be cardio-respiratory failure due to burn complications. Injured Shankar Kumar Ravi (PW-1) and Lado alias Samriddhi (PW-3) were subjected to medically examined by Dr. Rachna Aurthor (PW-14), who found simple burn injuries over their persons and gave reports vide Ex.P/10 and Ex.P/12, respectively. The appellant was arrested on 07.07.2018 at about 01.45 PM by the Police Station Surajpur vide arrest memo Ex.P/24.

3. Statements under Section 161 of the Cr.P