The Delhi High Court recently upheld the 2002 conviction of a father and son for causing the death of the latter's mother by fire [Didar Singh & Anr v. State (Govt.of NCT of Delhi)].

A case was registered against the son and husband on the basis of the woman's dying declaration where she repeatedly stated that they had poured kerosene oil over her and set her ablaze.

The son and father were convicted and sentenced by trial court in 2002. Thereafter, they had moved the High Court challenging the conviction. 

The judgment written by the Division Bench of Justices Subramonium Prasad and Vimal Kumar Yadav starts with poignant lines on motherhood.

“A mother is the only person who carries you for nine months in her belly, three years in her arms and forever in her heart. The bond between the mother and children is so strong, pure and aboveboard that there is no scope for any sort of selfishness..."

The Court stated that the allegations made by the deceased mother against the son and his father were grave and devastating. 

“If something adverse happens to the mother involving her son, then there must be a very drastic reason behind it. If that incident happens to be the death or homicide of the mother, with allegations of the son’s involvement, apart from that of the husband, one can easily imagine how serious the reason must be. It would have to be something truly grave and devastating, where allegations of murder and destroying evidence are levelled against the son and the husband."

In 2000, the deceased’s daughter found her mother on fire. The daughter and the son took her to the hospital, where she was found with 100% burns. The deceased mother recorded her dying declaration twice with the investigating officer. She squarely blamed her son and husband.

This Court opined that the dying declaration is credible evidence pointing towards the fact that her son and husband were guilty of setting her ablaze.

“Dying declaration is not only consistent but appears to be true. Deceased had no reason to name her grown up son or husband to falsely implicate them. She had nothing to gain. As such the dying declaration, being above board, free from any taint like undue influence, fabrication, pressure, inducement or for any temporal gain, being acceptable leaves no room for the appellants to scrape through the conclusion that they were responsible to set Gian Kaur on fire resulting in to her death, which was neither suicidal nor accidental,” the Court ascertained. 

Further, the Court questioned the father for cleaning the scene of crime instead of rushing his wife to the hospital.

“What was the hurry to clean the scene of crime/ incident so much so that the husband didn’t accompany the victim to the hospital? Answers to these questions are pregnant with circumstances against the appellants."

Thus, the Court upheld the conviction and dismissed the appeal. 

Advocate Rakesh Tewari appeared for the appellants.

Additional Public Prosecutor Aashneet Singh appeared for the State. 

[Read judgment]