New Delhi, August 26: According to a recent ruling by the Supreme Court, the deathbed statement will only be taken into consideration as a piece of evidence and cannot serve as the only justification for a conviction if there is any doubt as to its truthfulness or if the evidence on file indicates that it is false.
A panel of Justices BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Prashant Kumar Mishra said that while evaluating a criminal appeal, courts must first determine if the dying statement is trustworthy and true before putting any confidence on it.
“There is no hard and fast rule for determining when a dying declaration should be accepted; the duty of the Court is to decide this question in the facts and surrounding circumstances of the case and be fully convinced of the truthfulness of the same,” the court said.
The Supreme Court ruled that the courts should take into account variables such as whether the individual making the statement expected to die, if the dying declaration was made at the earliest opportunity, etc.
