Law: Evidence Act, (1 of 1872)

Section: S. 32

Evidence Act (1 of 1872), S. 32-Dying declaration found genuine and true-Conviction can validly be based solely on such dying declaration-Tests for determining genuineness of declara tion-Penal Code (XLY of 1860), S. 302.   If a dying declaration is genuine and true, it can be acted upon without any corroboration for convicting a person for murder under section 302, Penal Code, 1860. The value of a dying declaration in each case depends on its own facts and circumstances. Some of the main tests for determining the genuineness of a dying declaration are: (1) whether intrinsically it rings true; (2) whether there is no chance of mistake on the part of the dying man in identifying or naming his assailant ; and (3) whether it is free from prompting from any outside quarter and is not inconsistent with the other evidence and circumstances of the case.   Ram Nath Madhoprasad and others v. State of Madhya Pradesh A I R 1953 S C 420 not approved.   Muhammad Arif v. Emperor A I R 1941 Pat. 409 ; Shahbaz and another v. The Crown P L D 1953 Lah. 566 and Taj Mahmud and others v. The State P L D 1960 Lah. 723 ref. JUDGMENT   ANWARUL HAQ, J.----This appeal is by Zabta Khan, aged about 27/28 years, resident of village Shakarpura, in the jurisdic tion of Police Station Daudzai, in the Peshawar District, who has been convicted and sentenced to death under section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code by Mr. Amirzada Khan, Additional Sessions Judge, Peshawar. The case is also before us for confirmation of the death sentence under section 374, Cr. P. C. This judgment will dispose of both the appeal and the reference.   The case for the prosecution is that there was bad bloodbetween the appellant Zabta Khan and the deceased Abdur Rehman, who was also a resident of the same village, on account of the possession of some shamilat land, which the deceased was trying to annex to his own field, but the appellant was objecting to it. It is stated that in order to prevent the deceased from taking possession of this land the appellant planted some trees over it, which were, however, uprooted by the deceased. This led to an altercation between the two, but the elders of…