The Supreme Court on Thursday (December 4), while restoring the summons to the deceased's in-laws in the shooting case, held that the mere fact that death was not imminent at the time of recording the statement does not render a dying declaration irrelevant.

The bench comprising Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotiswar Singh heard the case where the appellant lodged an FIR after his deceased sister was shot by her husband. Although the victim initially named only her husband in her Section 161 Cr.P.C. statements, she later gave another Section 161 Cr.P.C statement implicating her mother-in-law, father-in-law, and brother-in-law, alleging they had instigated her husband to shoot her.

Despite these allegations, the police framed charges only against her husband. During the trial, the prosecu

See Full Page