Dying declaration must inspire confidence.

Per M.Karpagavinayagam, J

Govindaraj - the appellant herein was convicted for the offence under sec.302 of the Indian Penal code for having caused death of his wife. Aggrieved over such conviction, the present appeal has been filed.

2.The short facts leading to the conviction are as follows:

(a) The deceased jeevarathinam got married to the accused ten years back. Two children were born out of their wedlock. The accused is working as a driver in the Transport Corporation. Whenever the accused comes back home, he used to be in a drunken state and invariably beat the deceased. With reference to beating incidents, the deceased gave a compliant to the police on 20.10.2000 against her husband. The enquiry was conducted on the said complaint by PW 12 - the Sub.Inspector of Police and ultimately, the husband was warned. Due to this, the accused had a grudge against the deceased.

(b)The fateful occurrence took place on 26.10.2000. It is a Deepavali day. The accused, after having fully drunk, came to the house at 9.30 PM and began to quarrel with the deceased. The quarrel went upto 12 Mid Night. Ultimately, the accused took a kerosene can, poured kerosene over the body of the deceased and set fire by lighting the match stick. She cried and PW 4 and PW5 - both neighbours came to the scene. In the mean time, the accused himself tried to put out the fire.

(c) The deceased victim was taken to the Government Hospital at Coonoor. PW9 admitted the deceased on 27.10.2000 at 2 AM and issued ExP8 accident register. She told PW9, the doctor that she sustained injuries due to her attempt for self immolation. Then, an intimation was sent by PW9 to the police.

(d) After receipt of the intimation, PW 12 - the Sub. Inspector came to the hospital on 27.10.2000 and recorded the statement ExP14 at about 9.15 AM. In that statement, she stated that due to torture meted out to her at the hands of her husband - the accused - a drunkard, she made an attempt to commit suicide by self immolation. Then, the case was registered as against the deceased herself under Section 309 of the Indian Penal Code.

(e)In the meantime, PW10 - another doctor sent intimation to the Judicial Magistrate through ExP6 requesting to come and record the dying declaration of the deceased. Accordingly, at 3.45 PM on 27.10.2000, PW8 - the Judicial Magistrate came to the hospital and recorded ExP 7 -the dying declaration. In the said dying declaration,She stated implicating the accused to the effect that he only poured kerosene and threw the lighted match stick and due to which, she sustained burn injuries.

(f) On receipt of the information about the admission of the deceased in the hospital due to burn injuries, PWs.1 and 2 - brothers of the deceased came to the hospital and enquired the deceased as to what happened. She told them that the burn injuries were sustained by her to the act of the accused. Therefore, on 28.10.2000, PW1 accompanied by PW 2, went to the police station and gave the complaint ExP1 to PW12. On that basis, the case was altered into one under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code.

(g) On 28.10.2000, the accused was arrested. In the meantime, he was given treatment for the burn injuries sustained by him by PW10 - the doctor.

(h) On 6.11.2000, the deceased died. Therefore, PW13 - the Inspector of Police, on receipt of information, altered the case into one under Section302 of the Indian Penal Code.

(i) After completing the formalities, the seized materials were sent for chemical examination. PW13 continued to investigate the matter by examining the other witnesses and ultimately, filed the charge sheet against the accused for the offence under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

(j) On the side of the prosecution, PWS 1 to 13 were examined, EXP19 were filed and MOS 1 to 3 were marked.

(k) The accused, while he was questioned under Section313 of the Criminal procedure Code, stated that he had not committed the offence. On the other hand, he stated that when the deceased