The evidentiary value of a dying declaration and the necessity of corroboration in the absence of a certificate of fitness from the treating doctor.

1. The present criminal appeal was preferred by Appellant Satbir Singh and his mother Parmali Devi, challenging their conviction under Section 304-B/43 IPC by the Id. Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Jagadhri vide judgment dated 1-10-2002.

2. Vide order dated 1-10-2002, the appellants were sentenced to 7 years of R. I. The sentence of the appellant No. 1 was suspended by this Court vide order dated 26-10-2004 and of appellant No.2 on 16-4-2004. During the pendency of the present appeal, appellant Parmali Devi died. As such, this appeal stands abated qua Parmali Devi.

3. Brief facts of the case, sans unnecessary details, as put forth by the prosecution are as follows. On 19-11-2000 at about 10:42 p.m. deceased Roshni Devi, aged 22 years, was admitted in a private hospital i.e. Gaba Hospital at Jagadhri, where she was brought by her husband i.e. appellant Satbir Singh. The treating doctor Dr. B. S. Gaba telephoni- cally informed the police since it was a case of suspected poisoning. Medical condition of the deceased was very serious and was deteriorating. As such Dr. B. S. Gaba, in the presence of Dr. Geeta and one Shri Anil Jaiswal, who happened to be there as an attendant of another patient, recorded the dying declaration Ex. PJ of deceased Roshni Devi. The dying declaration was taken down in the form of questions and answers. As per the dying declaration, the deceased stated that her husband and her mother-in-law used to harass her on account of bringing insufficient dowry and not being of their blood and on that day had severely beaten her. She also implicated her brothers-in-law and their wives (Jeth and Jathani) and further stated that everybody at home used to harass her. She also stated that she was very sad on account of her harassment and she took poison herself.

4. Thereafter, in little over an hour from the time she was brought in the private nursing home, the deceased Roshni Devi expired at about 11.55 p.m. Thereafter a ruqa was sent to the SHO Police Station Jathlana. The dying declaration was immediately handed over to the police who on the basis of same, registered an FIR and arrested the accused. As per the opinion of the doctor, the death occurred due to poisoning which was given after going through the chemical report. During the course of investigation, the brother of husband and his wife were found to be innocent and were placed in column No. 2 of the investigation report. However, the father-in-law was also challenged along with husband and mother-in-law though during the pendency of the trial, father-in-law also expired.

5. Before the Id. Trial Court, the father and two brothers of the deceased i.e. PW-4, PW-3 and PW-5, turned hostile and completely withdrew from the prosecution case. They infact submitted that the appellant Satbir used to keep the deceased nicely and in fact it was the deceased who used to remain ill. Anil Jaiswal, purportedly in whose presence the dying declaration was recorded by Dr. B. S. Gaba, also denied that the dying declaration was ever taken down in his presence. However, there was no request from the prosecution to declare him hostile.

6. Faced with the above situation, the Id. trial Court was left with the dying declaration as the only piece of evidence in the backdrop of which the guilt of the appellant and his mother was to be established or disproved.

7. The trial Court ultimately relied on the dying declration and convicted the appellants. For recording the conviction, the learned trial Court observed that Dr. B. S. Gaba PW-6, who recorded the dying declaration, was an independent person and had no personal enmity with the appellants. There was no reason for him to falsely implicate the appellants. Moreover, the treating doctor stated in his evidence that the deceased was in a fit state. The learned trial Court also observed that conviction solely on the basis of dying declaration is permissible under law if it inspires confidence. There was no time for any kind