D RAJANGAM Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant is A-2. Challenging the judgment of the Additional District and Sessions Judge, Fast Track Court No.I, Tanjore, in S.C.No.128 of 2003 by which he was found guilty under Section 302 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code (for short "I.P.C") and awarded life sentence under Section 302 I.P.C. A-1, the wife of A-2, was acquitted on the basis of the benefit of doubt.

(2.) THE prosecution case is as follows:

(3.) THE learned counsel for the appellant submitted that it would be extremely unsafe to rely solely on the Dying Declaration. According to the learned counsel, the Dying Declaration had been recorded in a typewritten format which contains the words that the duty Medical Officer had certified that the patient is conscious-oriented and in a fit state of mind. When as per the admission of P.W.14 the Magistrate, this printed format was taken by the Magistrate even before she reached the hospital, no credence can be given to these words. THE learned counsel submitted that the absence of examination of the Doctor who had allegedly certified the state of mind of the deceased in Ex.P.10, the certificate by the Doctor, is inadmissible. THE learned counsel also submitted that if this certification of the Doctor is eschewed, there is nothing in Ex.P.10 to show that the Magistrate was satisfied with regard to the state of mind of the deceased ; whether she was conscious and whether she was in a fit state of mind to understand the contents of the Dying Declaration. When the prosecution rests solely on this Dying Declaration and when this is full of infirmities it would not be safe to fasten the guilt on the appellant.