TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (4) TMI 1911
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....of the occurrence, the Appellant No. 2 had come to stay at the house of her brother i.e. the Appellant No. 1. Burn injuries were to the extent of 98%. Sharada made two dying declarations - the first was in the nature of the information given to Dr. Sanjeev Chibbar (PW-5), who had attended upon her when she was admitted to the hospital and the second was a formal dying declaration made to Mr. Kamlakar Adhav, Special Judicial Magistrate, Pune (PW-2). 3. The prosecution story is that relations between husband and wife were cordial for about one and a half years. Thereafter, Appellant No. 1 started ill treating his wife since she could not conceive. It is also alleged that, in fact, he wanted to marry again even when Sharada was alive. For this reason, he and his sister had with common intention poured kerosene on Sharada and set her on fire. 4. The defence version is that Sharada belongs to a comparatively well-off family. She was residing with her husband in MIDC Colony quarter which had all facilities. The case set up by the defence is that the parents of the Appellants lived in a small one room hut in village Lonand with no facilities of toilet etc.. Appellant No. 1 wanted that h....
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....efit of doubt should have been given to the Accused persons. Lastly it was contended that the appellate court should not have lightly interfered with the findings given by the trial court. 7. With regard to the powers of an appellate court in an appeal against acquittal, the law is well established that the presumption of innocence which is attached to every Accused person gets strengthened when such an Accused is acquitted by the trial court and the High Court should not lightly interfere with the decision of the trial court which has recorded the evidence and observed the demeanour of witnesses. This Court in the case of Chandrappa and Ors. v. State of Karnataka (2007) 4 SCC 415, laid down the following principles: 42. From the above decisions, in our considered view, the following general principles regarding powers of the appellate court while dealing with an appeal against an order of acquittal emerge: (1) An appellate court has full power to review, reappreciate and reconsider the evidence upon which the order of acquittal is founded. (2) The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 puts no limitation, restriction or condition on exercise of such power and an appellate court o....
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...., PW-2 took the impression of the left big toe on the statement. He made the following endorsement on the dying declaration: The statement issued to me by the patient is in the total presence of her mental faculties and in presence of the staff nurses. I certify her fit to issue this statement. 10. PW-5 further states that he signed the aforesaid statement and, in his presence, the Special Judicial Magistrate read over the contents of the dying declaration to Sharada who admitted the same as correct. Thereafter, PW-2 made an endorsement to this effect and signed the same. The witness in cross-examination admitted that in case of patients of serious burn injuries painkillers are administered to the patients. He also admits that in such cases the trauma may cause delusion in the mind of the person. After perusal of the treatment chart he stated that Fortwin injection was given to the deceased at 3.30 a.m.. He does not Rule out the possibility of the injection having been given before recording the dying declaration. 11. The other important witness is Mr. Kamlakar Adhav (PW-2), who was Special Judicial Magistrate, Pune. According to him, he was asked by the police to record the st....
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....the statement was recorded. Normally it should be the other way round. 14. No doubt, a dying declaration is an extremely important piece of evidence and where the Court is satisfied that the dying declaration is truthful, voluntary and not a result of any extraneous influence, the Court can convict the Accused only on the basis of a dying declaration. We need not refer to the entire law but it would be apposite to refer to the judgment of this Court in the case of Sham Shankar Kankaria v. State of Maharashtra (2006) 13 SCC 165 held as follows: 11. Though a dying declaration is entitled to great weight, it is worthwhile to note that the Accused has no power of cross-examination. Such a power is essential for eliciting the truth as an obligation of oath could be. This is the reason the court also insists that the dying declaration should be of such a nature as to inspire full confidence of the court in its correctness. The court has to be on guard that the statement of deceased was not as a result of either tutoring or prompting or a product of imagination. The court must be further satisfied that the deceased was in a fit state of mind after a clear opportunity to observe and ide....
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....s water on the floor of the kitchen. A match box and some burnt cloth were also found in the kitchen. This proves that the occurrence took place in the kitchen and not in the bedroom. 18. The second important factor which comes out from the statement of the panch witnesses is that in the first room in which there was a cot, there were two pillows on the cot and below a pillow there were some ornaments and other things. The panchanama report indicates that the ornaments were one yellow and black mangalsutra, a nathni (nose ring), some glass bangles and peinjan (an ornament worn on the foot). It is also recorded that, according to the accused, these ornaments belong to his wife. Mangalsutra, peinjan and even glass bangles are such ornaments which an Indian married woman would normally not remove. In Indian society these are normally worn by the ladies all the times. Therefore, the defence version that the deceased took off all these ornaments and then went to the kitchen and committed suicide cannot be totally ruled out. 19. Another factor which needs to be taken into consideration is that none of the witnesses from the neighbourhood have been examined. Even as per the prosecution ....