Not convinced with dying declaration, HC frees life convict

CHENNAI: The perpetrator in a murder case was given a life sentence by a Coimbatore district court, but the Madras High Court (MHC) overturned it and freed him on the grounds that the victim’s deathbed statement didn’t seem to be genuine.

The appellant Vediyappan moved the MHC seeking to set aside the life sentence imposed by Coimbatore district court under section 302 of IPC.The case was listed before a division bench comprising Justice M S Ramesh and Justice Sunder Mohan.According to the prosecution, the appellant and the deceased were in an extra-marital affair and had a live-in relationship. On May 18, 2012, the appellant had a quarrel with the deceased when she asked money for household expenses. The quarrel developed into a huge fight, in a fit of anger the appellant poured kerosene over the deceased and set her on fire, said the prosecution.

Later, some neighbours took the victim to the Coimbatore government hospital and she was treated there for burn injuries. However, after discharge, on June 2, 2012, the deceased succumbed to her burn injuries.The judicial magistrate Coimbatore recorded the statement of the deceased and the police booked charges against the appellant. After the investigation, the police filed a report against the appellant. Perusing the materials and report, the Coimbatore court found the accused guilty and pronounced a life sentence.

After the perusal of the materials and evidence produced by the prosecution, the HC bench found suppression of facts against the appellant. Especially, the doctor, who treated the deceased gave a statement that the deceased sustained only 25 to 30 per cent of burn injuries, but the report stated, that the deceased sustained 55 percent of burn injuries which led to her death, this suppression of facts, raisesdoubt, observed the bench.

There was a possibility of tutoring the deceased against the appellant while she was giving a dying declaration. The prosecution had also not established through conclusive evidence the cause of death of the deceased, read the judgment. Further, the bench set aside the life imprisonment imposed by the lower court.