“The absence of a certificate of fitness by a doctor would not be sufficient to discard the dying declaration.” Supreme Court

SC, Allahabad HC take 30 yrs to decide murder case
The trial courts have been blamed too often for the huge pendency of cases. But, this is a case where the blame must lie with the higher judiciary. And shockingly, it was a murder case, which generally gets top priority for hearing in the higher courts. The high court took more than 20 years to agree with the trial court verdict giving life sentence to the accused. Then, the Supreme Court took another seven years to do an identical thing.


The case related to one Om Pal Singh who had killed another villager in Bareilly district on June 11, 1978. The trial court examined the evidence threadbare, convicted Singh and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Challenging the verdict, Singh moved the HC in 1980. But, the HC took 23 years to complete the hearing and pronounce its verdict -- that there was no error in the decision of the trial court.
The apex court took another seven years to complete the hearing on the appeal filed by Singh challenging the HC verdict. A Bench comprising Justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar, after examining the two judgments, on Tuesday said: “In our opinion, the trial court as well as the HC correctly accepted that the dying declaration was an acceptable piece of evidence.”
It said: “The absence of a certificate of fitness by a doctor would not be sufficient to discard the dying declaration.”