Full Judgment Text
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PETITIONER:
VASANT NARAYAN PAWAR
Vs.
RESPONDENT:
STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
DATE OF JUDGMENT19/12/1979
BENCH:
KRISHNAIYER, V.R.
BENCH:
KRISHNAIYER, V.R.
PATHAK, R.S.
CITATION:
1980 AIR 1270 1980 SCR (2)1209
ACT:
Dying declaration-Relevancy-Even though the deceased
has been set fire to her husband, while making a statement
she pleads that her husbands should not be beaten-Whether
such a request could be converted into one exculpative of
the accused-Section 32 of the Evidence Act.
HEADNOTE:
Dismissing the special leave petition, the Court
^
HELD: The statement by the dying tragic woman that her
husband should not be beaten, even though she was dying
having been burnt, cannot be converted into one exculpative
of the accused. This is a sentiment too touching for tears
and stems from the values of the culture of the Indian
womanhood. [1210A-B]
Observation:
Police sensitisation mechanisms which will prevent
commission of crimes like wife burning must be set up if
these horrendous crimes are to be avoided. Likewise, special
provisions facilitating easier proof of such special class
of murders on establishing certain basic facts must be
provided for by appropriate legislation. Law must rise to
the challenge of shocking criminology, especially when
helpless women are the victims and the crime is committed in
the secrecy of the husband’s home. [1210C-E]
JUDGMENT:
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Special Leave Petition
(Criminal) No. 2636 of 1979.
From the Judgment and Order dated 25-4-1979 of the
Bombay High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 822/77.
Pramod Swarup (Amicus Curiae) for the Petitioner.
H. R. Khanna and M. N. Shroff for the Respondent.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
KRISHNA IYER, J.-Shri Pramod Swarup appearing as amicus
curiae has presented the case of the accused as effectively
as the record permits. Indeed, he has gone to the extent of
pressing into service points which do not appear to us to
have any force. Moreover, he has tried to persuade us to
believe that a dying declaration made by the lady who was
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burnt to death by the husband-accused-that is the charge on
which the trial court and the High Court have found the
petitioner guilty-is exonerative of the accused-husband and
does not implicate him as the Court has construed. The
declarant as she was dying was
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conscious enough to make a statement and in one of the
several statements she made, it would appear, she said when
her husband was being beaten up that even though she had
been burnt, her husband should not be beaten. This is a
sentiment too touching for tears and stems from the values
of the culture of the Indian womanhood. A wife when she has
been set fire to by her husband, true to her tradition, does
not want her husband to be assaulted brutally. It is this
sentiment which prompted this dying tragic woman to say that
even if she was dying having been burnt, her husband should
not be beaten. We are unable to appreciate how this
statement can be converted into one exculpative of the
accused. Anyway, we are mentioning these facts only because
Shri Pramod Swarup contended that they were weighty
circumstances sufficient to cancel the conviction.
Wife burning tragedies are becoming too frequent for
the country to be complacent. Police sensitisation
mechanisms which will prevent the commission of such crimes
must be set up if these horrendous crimes are to be avoided.
Likewise, special provisions facilitating easier proof of
such special class of murders on establishing certain basic
facts must be provided for by appropriate legislation. Law
must rise to the challenge of shocking criminology,
especially when helpless women are the victims and the crime
is committed in the secrecy of the husband’s home. We hope
the State’s concern for the weaker sections of the community
will be activised into appropriate machinery and procedure.
We dismiss the special leave petition.
S.R. Petition dismissed.
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