MALLELLA SHYAMSUNDER Vs. STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Nemo moriturus praesumitur mentire literally means no one at the point of death is presumed to lie. Nobody normally may lie and die for fear of meeting his maker.

(2.) Acceptability and reliability of statement made by a person who is about to die, which statement, in common parlance, is known as dying declaration, has been the subject matter of several reported decisions of this Court and, therefore, it is not necessary to add one more to the same. However, for the purpose of understanding the first principles, we shall refer to a Constitution Bench decision in Laxman v. State of Maharashtra, 2002 6 SCC 710 wherein at paragraph-3, it is held as follows:

(3.) Appellant is the first accused in Sessions Case No. 197 of 2002 on the file of the Court of Second Additional Sessions Judge, Mahabubnagar, Andhra Pradesh. He was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) (hereinafter referred to as 'IPC'). He was also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year under Section 498A of IPC. The second accused who is the mother of the first accused, was convicted under Section 498A of IPC and sentenced to undergo one year rigorous imprisonment. The High Court, however, taking note mainly of the age of the second accused, maintaining the conviction under Section 498A of IPC, reduced the sentence to the period already undergone.