The Supreme Court on Wednesday acquitted a death row prisoner convicted in the killing of his son and two brothers, who were allegedly against his second marriage, at his Bijnore home in 2014, saying that the dying declarations of two victims were not in sync with the testimonies of key witnesses, reports PTI.
A bench comprising justices B R Gavai, J B Pardiwala and Prashant Kumar Mishra also dealt in detail with the legal principle on dying declaration and its trustworthiness on the presumption that a person on death bed does not lie.
“Dying declaration while carrying a presumption of being true must be wholly reliable and inspire confidence. Where there is any suspicion over the veracity of the same or the evidence on record shows that the dying declaration is not true it will only be considered as a piece of evidence but cannot be the basis for conviction alone,” the bench said, in its 36-page judgment.
The top court bench also ordered the immediate release of convict Irfan, who is in jail for the last eight years, after setting aside his conviction and the death penalty for his alleged role in the death of his son Islamuddin and two brothers Irshad and Naushad on the intervening night of August 5-6, 2014.
The three victims, who were sleeping at Irfan’s house at Najibabad in Bijnore, woke up to see flames and smoke in their room and received severe burn injuries. They later died at Delhi’s Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital on different dates.
The trial court had relied upon the dying declarations of Irshad and Islamuddin who named Irfan as the person who set them on fire.
The judgement and the sentence were upheld by the Allahabad High Court in 2018, after finding no discrepancies in the statements.