Kailash Gambhir, J.

1. By this appeal filed under section 374 of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Cr.P.C.’), the appellants seek to challenge the impugned judgment dated 28.05.1999 and order on sentence dated 29.05.1999 whereby the Appellant – Jitender Singh is convicted for committing an offence punishable under Section 302 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as ‘IPC’) and the appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay fine of Rs.5,000/- and in case of default, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months.

2. The facts germane to the case of the prosecution are that –

That accused Jitender had thrown acid on his own mother, Smt. Maya Devi over some property issue. On 9.8.97 on receipt of DD no. 25B for enquiry, HC Sanjay Kumar alongwith constable Tarsem Singh went to the place of occurrence of the incident at House no. D-53 Indira Jheel, Friends Enclave, Sultan Puri, Delhi. Injured was removed to DDU hospital. No eyewitness was found at the spot. The police then went to DDU Hospital. The police then collected the MLC of injured Smt. Maya Devi. Since she was found fit to make statement, her statement was recorded. She stated in her statement that she stayed with her family at the aforesaid address. That her son used to quarrel with her quite often: that he used to ask her to get the house(property) transferred on his name or else he would throw her out of the house. She further stated that on that day at about 8.00 am while she was sitting at the door of her house, accused jitender said that ‘mein tumhe aakhiri baar kehta hun ye ghar mujhe dedo, varna iska natija bura hoga.’She asked him to pay the debt that was due on them, he clearly barged away and blatantly conveyed that I won’t pay a single penny. He then asked her’ tujhe abhi maza chakhata hun’ and filled a jug with tejab(acid) and poured it on his mothers head. She raised an alarm. Her son Satinder and husband came, jitender ran away from there. She was then removed to the hospital. Smt. Maya devi and her husband did put signatures on the statement. The same was attested by HC Sanjay Kumar. He prepared the endorsement and sent the same through Constable Tarsem Singh to the police station to get the FIR registered. FIR was registered u/s 307 IPC by the IO. Thereafter, the FIR was handed over to the SI, R.P. Singh. He went at the spot and prepared a site plan, recorded the statement of the witnesses, seized the steel jug without handle and one black coloured can containing acid and deposited the same in the malkhana. Accused was arrested during investigation. Unfortunately, Smt. Maya devi died on 11.9.97. Thereafter, inquest proceedings were conducted and the body was sent for post mortem. Thereafter, challan was filed Case was committed to court of sessions on 16.12.97. Accused was charged under section 302 IPC to which he pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

3. To prove its case the prosecution examined as many as 9 witnesses. After the completion of prosecution evidence, statement of the accused was recorded under Section 313 of Cr.P.C. wherein the entire incriminating evidence was put to him and in reply he pleaded innocence and false implication.

4. On behalf of the Appellant – Jitender Singh, arguments were addressed by Mr. M.A. Rehman, Advocate. The State was led by Ms. Richa Kapoor, learned Additional Public Prosecutor.

5. Addressing arguments on behalf of the appellant Mr. M.A. Rehman, Advocate submitted that there is not even an iota of evidence proved on record by the prosecution against the appellant and yet the learned trial court has found the appellant guilty for committing such a grave offence that too against his own mother.

6. Learned counsel for the appellant further submitted that the entire case of the prosecution is based on the testimonies of two eye witnesses and also on the alleged dying declaration made by the deceased. On the testimo