The central legal point established in the judgment is the credibility of witness testimonies, the admissibility of dying declarations, and the weight given to forensic evidence in establishing guilt in a murder case.

Pradeep Nandrajog, J.

1. Laxmi and Sheela have been held guilty for having burnt Rajbala with the common intention of killing her at 1:45 PM on September 20, 1995 at House No.RZ-228, Double Storey, Harijan Colony, Tilak Vihar, Delhi. The verdict of guilt is as per the judgment dated February 28, 2000. Both have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life as per the order dated February 29, 2000. The learned Additional Session Judge has accepted the statement Ex.PW-15/B made by Rajbala to ASI Om Prakash PW-15, as her dying declaration. The testimony of Ms. Sunita PW-2 and Kumari Babita PW-3, the two daughters of Rajbala has been believed. The two have been held to be truthful eye-witnesses. Further incriminating evidence has been found in the contents of DD No.8A, Ex.PW-5/D, recorded by ASI Poonam PW-5, duly corroborated with the testimony of Ct.Ramesh PW-22. The contents of Ex.PW-5/D are to the effect that when Rajbala was brought to the casualty of Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital at 2:20 PM, Ct.Ramesh, who was on duty at DDU Hospital was informed that a lady had been admitted at the hospital in a burnt condition. He met Rajbala who told him that Laxmi and Sheela had set her on fire. To put it pithily, the verdict of guilt is based upon two dying declarations made by the Rajbala. Firstly to Ct.Ramesh and thereafter to ASI Om Prakash as also on the testimony of

2. Sheela and Laxmi urge in the appeal that there are material contradictions in the testimony of Sunita and Babita thereby rendering the percipient evidentiary worth of their testimony highly tainted and possibly suggestive of the fact that their father Ram Kumar had set his wife on fire and the two daughters deposed falsely to save their father and for which Sheela and Laxmi urge that the delay in removing Rajbala to the hospital and the further delay in registration of the FIR needs to be taken note of. Their argument is that this time was used by Ram Kumar to spin a story through the mouth of his daughters. Sheela and Laxmi refer to their conduct of being in their house when the police apprehended them the same evening when Rajbala suffered burned injuries. They urge that if the two had burnt Rajbala, they would not be sitting in their respective homes and would flee from justice. Sheela and Rajbala question the authenticity of Ex.PW-15/B, the dying declaration of Rajbala by urging that Dr. S. Dureja PW-20, who wrote Rajbala’s MLC Ex.PW-15/A had categorically deposed that whereas the writing on the MLC was his and he had signed at point ‘X’, the writing encircled in red ink on the MLC was not his handwriting. The writing referred to by Dr. S. Dureja certifies that the patient is fit for statement. And we need to put a clarificatory note here. The portion encircled with red ink on the MLC contains the writing ‘Ex.PW-15/A’ and beneath the same is the signature of the learned Judge who recorded the evidence. It is apparent that there is a discrepancy in what has been recorded as ‘encircled in red’ in the testimony of the witnesses and what has been actually ‘encircled in red’. A mistake has apparently occurred. Instead of encircling in red where it is written ‘patient is fit for statement’ inadvertently the place where the learned Judge wrote the exhibit mark on the MLC and penned his signatures has got encircled in red.

3. We note that no arguments were addressed pertaining to the contents of DD No.8-A and the testimony relating thereto of ASI Poonam PW-5 and Ct.Ramesh PW-22, but we take it to be a lapse by the learned counsel for Sheela and Laxmi, and since we are dealing with an indictment for murder we shall be dealing with said aspect of the matter also.

4. Process of law was set into motion when DD No.16, Ex.PW-8/A was recorded at 2:15 PM by the duty officer P.S. Tilak Nagar that lady Ct.Babita at the Police Control Room had informed that a person who did not give his name rang up the Police Control Room that a lady had been burnt at W-56, Tilak Nagar. C