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2) The facts leading to the present appeal are as follows:

The deceased - Renuka, was married to appellant No.1 about 10 years prior to the date of the incident. As per the prosecution case, on 10.12.2005, at about 12 noon, the appellants herein, along with their mother and grandmother tried to pour kerosene oil and lit fire on the deceased and because of that she raised hue and cry. On hearing her noise, five neighbours came and requested them not to do so but the accused persons asked them not to interfere in their family matter. Appellant No.3 poured kerosene on the deceased and appellant No.2 set fire in the presence of the neighbours. After pouring kerosene, the accused persons ran away from the house and the neighbours extinguished the fire and covered the deceased with blanket and had taken her immediately to the Government Hospital Bagalkot. At about 2.30 p.m., the Doctor (PW-7) informed the police and the Magistrate (Tehsildar) (PW 12) came to the Hospital at 4.30 p.m. and recorded the dying declaration of the deceased which is filed as Ex. P-9. The Police Officer came to the hospital after 7 p.m. and taken the statement of the deceased which was written by Govindagowda Patil - PW-11, the neighbour, and F.I.R. was registered at the police station at 7.15 p.m. which is Ex. P-10. The Investigating Officer, PW-17 came to the hospital at 8.30 p.m. and again tried to take the statement of the deceased but she was not in a position to give any statement and at 9.00 p.m., she died. The Inquest Panchnama was prepared at about 11.00 p.m. On 11.12.2005, post mortem was conducted by the Doctor, PW-7, the report of which is Ex. P-5. The Investigating Officer filed the charge sheet on 23.01.2006. On 26.06.2006, the Fast Track Court, Bagalkot framed the charges against all the five accused persons under Sections 498-A, 143, 147, 341, 302 read with Section 149 I.P.C. By order dated 03.10.2006, the Fast Track Court, Bagalkot convicted all the five accused for the offence punishable under Sections 498-A, 143, 147, 341, 302 read with Section 149 I.P.C. and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and also sentenced them to pay a fine of Rs.2000/- each in default, simple imprisonment for three months for the offence punishable under Section 498-A read with Section 149 I.P.C. and further convicted them for the offences punishable under Section 302/149 IPC and sentenced them to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- each in default, simple imprisonment for one year. All of them filed a Criminal Appeal being Appeal No. 2573 of 2006 before the High Court. By order dated 04.10.2007, the High Court by partly allowing the appeal acquitted A-3 and A-5 of all the charges leveled against them and affirming the sentence passed by the trial Court on A-1, A-2 and A-4 convicted them for the offence punishable under Section 498-A/34 I.P.C. and Section 302/34 I.P.C. Aggrieved by the said order, accused Nos.
(ii) Whether the sentence imposed upon the appellants-

accused is justifiable?

(iii) Whether the High Court is right in confirming the conviction and sentence imposed on the appellants?

5) In this appeal, we are concerned only with A-1, A-2 and A-4, since the other accused A-3 and A-5 were acquitted by the High Court.

6) Apart from various materials in the form of oral and documentary evidence, the Trial Court accepted the evidence of eye-witnesses, namely, PW-3, PW-4, PW-5, PW-6 as well as Dr. Uma Kant PW-7 who treated Renuka, father of the deceased PW-9, one elderly person of the village PW-10 and Taluk Executive Magistrate PW-12 who had recorded the dying declaration of Renuka. Learned counsel for the appellants-accused pointed out that as per the prosecution, there were five witnesses present at the spot of incident, even before the victim was burnt, but none of them stopped the accused or tried to prevent the incident. He also submitted that the Trial Court and the High Court committed an error in relying upon the dying declaration recorded by PW-12 since PW-12 has neither taken the certificate from the Doctor nor asked any question to verify the mental condition of the deceased Renuka, particularly, when she suffered 100% burns as shown in the post-mortem report.

7) At the foremost, let us verify the evidence of Dr. Uma Kant PW-7 who treated the injured Renuka when she was brought to the hospital. Though, he had stated that injured Renuka had sustained 100% burn injuries, at about 4.45 p.m., according to him, she was in a fit state of mind to give statement. Based on the statement of doctor PW-7, Taluka Executive Magistrate PW-12 recorded her statement in the presence of PW-7. It is further seen that after recording the statement, her left thumb impression was taken on the statement, the doctor PW-7 also subscribed his signature. It is true that in the cross- examination it was elicited that the tongue of the deceased was swollen and protruded and lips were burnt. Though this suggestion has been admitted by PW-7, the fact remains at the time of recording her statement PW-7 was satisfied that Renuka was in a fit condition and in a fit state of mind to make a statement. There is no reason to disbelieve the version of PW-7 who made initial treatment and he was very well present during the entire period of recording the statement (Ex. P-9). We hold that the evidence of PW-7 coupled with PW-12 are acceptable and support the case of the prosecution.

15) Though, it was argued that PW-12 Tahsildar has not obtained the certificate from the Medical Officer regarding condition of the deceased, that itself is not sufficient to discard the dying declaration (Ex. P-9). What is essential required is that the person who recorded the dying declaration must be satisfied that the deceased was in a fit state of mind. The certification by the doctor is essentially a rule of caution and, therefore, the voluntary and truthful nature of the declaration can be established otherwise. The evidence of doctor (Pw-7) clearly shows that the deceased was in a sound state of mind while giving the statement before the Tahsildar (PW-12). In such circumstances, we are of the view that such a dying declaration has got due weight in the evidence. Further, as stated earlier, the doctor has explained that though the deceased Renuka sustained 100% burn injuries, she was in a position to talk. In such circumstances, her statement cannot be rejected on the ground that she sustained severe burn injuries. Normally, the person on the verge of death will not implicate somebody falsely. Even if we accept some contradiction in Ex. P-7 complaint, in the light of Ex. P-9 dying declaration coupled with the evidence of eye-witnesses, there is ample evidence on record to hold that the appellants ill-treated the deceased Renuka and subjected her to cruelty by giving both mental and physical torture and in furtherance of their common intention only to commit the murder of the deceased, poured kerosene and set fire on her who ultimately succumbed to the injuries on the same day in the District Hospital, Bagalkot. In our view, dying declaration (Ex. P-