Dying declaration

--- Art. 46 --- Cases in which statement of relevant fact by person who is dead or cannot be found, etc., is relevant --- Dying declaration --- Scope --- A dying declaration is admissible in evidence under Article 46 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984, without any pre-condition that the maker should be in imminent expectation of death --- Normally, the Courts attach great importance to a dying declaration, presuming that “truth sits upon the lips of the dying man” --- The shadow of impending death is in itself a guarantee of truth of the statement of the deceased regarding the circumstances leading to his death --- The grounds for admissibility are: firstly, the necessity for the victim being generally the only principal eyewitness to the crime, the exclusion of the statement might defeat the ends of justice; and, secondly, the sense of impending death, which creates a sanction equal to the obligation of oath --- The general principle on which this species of evidence is admitted is that they are declarations made in extremity, when the party is at the point of death and when every hope of this world is gone, when every motive to falsehood is silenced, and the mind is induced by the most powerful considerations to speak the truth, a situation so solemn and so lawful is considered by the law as creating an obligation equal to that which is imposed by a positive oath administered in a Court of justice --- The principle on which dying declaration is admitted in evidence is indicated in legal maxim “Nemo Moritus Proesumitur Mentire”— a man will not meet his maker with a lie in his mouth --- Yet, it is always put to close scrutiny before placing reliance thereon, for such statement is seldom on oath and its maker is not available for cross-examination, and also because our society’s moral fibre has gone very weak.