Calcutta High Court
Kolkata: Dying declaration given to independent witness is admissible, observed Calcutta High Court on Thursday while upholding the conviction of three men sentenced to life for murdering a man in 2018 over road construction in a Bankura village.
The victim told Subhasis, “Raghu, Gopal and Somnath Mondal” had attacked him. The sons had also prayed for dismissing the dying declaration used to convict them. After the trio attacked Rabindranath, a man named Subhasis Horkara saw commotion, rushed to the spot and saw him lying in blood. He pleaded to be taken to hospital. Subhasis helped to get him into a Maruti van and the victim was taken to Onda hospital where he was declared dead. The assailants’ counsel also contended the discrepancy between the General Diary (GD) and FIR. “An entry in the General Diary of a police station cannot override the actual piece of information, which resulted in an FIR. Mere procedural or clerical errors in recording time entries in a General Diary do not invalidate an FIR or negate the prosecution’s case unless deliberate fraud or prejudice to the accused is demonstrated,” the division bench held, directing the duo to surrender and serve their life imprisonment.
The case dates back to July 2, 2018 when three persons, Gopal Mondal and his two sons, Somnath Mondal and Raghunath Mondal, assaulted the victim Rabindranath Mondal in his agricultural field.
In this case, the doctors, who were “busy” saving the victim’s life, did not have the time to record his statement, hence the dying declaration that the victim told to a villager who rushed to help him was upheld. “A magistrate or a person of some status, namely, a doctor, may not be immediately available and the deceased victim may have very little time left in this world. In such an event, the victim may inform any person attending him the circumstances leading to his death. This is also natural. A person, having no interest to falsely implicate the accused can be a witness of a dying declaration,” the division bench observed. The family had a long drawn dispute over road construction, which was also the point raised by the two sons challenging conviction. Gopal passed away during pendency of trial. – Three persons, Gopal Mondal and his two sons, Somnath Mondal and Raghunath Mondal, assaulted the victim Rabindranath Mondal in his agricultural field.