exception to the general rule against hearsay. For example,
any sanction of the oath in the case of a living witness is
thought to be balanced at least by the final conscience of the
dying man. Nobody, it has been said, would wish to die with a
lie on his lips. A dying declaration has got sanctity and a
person giving the dying declaration will be the last to give
untruth as he stands before his creator.
24. There is a legal maxim “nemo moriturus praesumitur
mentire” meaning, that a man will not meet his Maker with a
lie in his mouth. Woodroffe and Amir Ali, in their Treatise on
Evidence Act state:
“when a man is dying, the grave position in which he is
placed is held by law to be a sufficient ground for his
veracity and therefore the tests of oath and crossexamination are dispensed with”.
25. The court has to consider each case in the circumstances
of the case. What value should be given to a dying declaration
is left to court, which on assessment of the circumstances and
the evidence and materials on record, will come to a
conclusion about the truth or otherwise of the version, be it
written, oral, verbal or by sign or by gestures.”
(Emphasis supplied)
59.
This Court in Bhajju (supra) has observed as under:
“23. The “dying declaration” essentially means the statement
made by a person as to the cause of his death or as to the
circumstances of the transaction resulting into his death. The
admissibility of the dying declaration is based on the principle
that the sense of impending death produces in a man's mind,
the same feeling as that of a conscientious and virtuous man
under oath. The dying declaration is admissible upon the
consideration that the declaration was made in extremity,
when the maker is at the point of death and when every hope
of this world is gone, when every motive to file a false suit is
silenced in the mind and the person deposing is induced by the
most powerful considerations to speak the truth.
Xxx
xxx
xxx
31
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