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21. In view of the above, the law on the issue of dying declaration can be summarized to the effect that in case, the Court comes to the conclusion that the dying declaration is true and reliable, has been recorded by a person at a time when the deceased was fit physically and mentally to make the declaration and it has not been made under any tutoring/duress/prompting; it can be the sole basis for recording conviction. In such an eventuality no corroboration is required. In case, there are multiple dying declarations and there are inconsistencies between them, generally, the dying declaration recorded by the higher officer like a Magistrate can be relied upon, provided that there is no circumstance giving rise to any suspicion about its truthfulness. In case, there are circumstances wherein the declaration had been made, not voluntarily and even otherwise, it is not supported by the other evidence, the Court has to scrutinize the facts of an individual case very carefully and take a decision as to which of the declarations is worth reliance."

38. In the present case, there are three dying declarations made by deceased Rinki. First oral dying declaration was made by the victim before her husband while she was going to hospital. PW-1 deposed that his wife had loudly narrated the incident, accusing Munni Devi, her daughter Mohini and son Ashish @ Bauva that they had poured kerosene oil and set her ablaze. Aforesaid narration of incident by the deceased was repeated without any deviation before the Investigating Officer who had recorded the statement of victim under Section 161 Cr.P.C. PW-4 Ram Prasad Chowdhary (I.O.) had recorded the said statement (dying declaration) of victim while she was in hospital under medical treatment. At the time of investigation being conducted by the I.O., she was surrounded by her family members, including her husband (PW-1) and brother-in-law (PW-2) who have corroborated the event of said dying declaration in their statement. Third dying declaration was made before the Executive Magistrate (PW-9) Rakesh Kumar who had proved the dying declaration as Ext. Ka-14. Statement of PW-10 Dr. S. B. Mishra corroborated the third dying declaration made by the victim and proved the Medical Certificate to the effect that at the time of making statement she was conscious, coherent and in a fit state of mind. In this view of the matter, it is a case of multiple dying declaration with consistency and coherence.