Case brief
What is this about?
Vasant Narayan Pawar v. State of Maharashtra, Supreme Court of India, Special Leave Petition (Criminal) No. 2636 of 1979, decided 19 December 1979 (V. R. Krishna Iyer and R. S. Pathak JJ.; judgment delivered by Krishna Iyer J.). Dying declaration in a wife-burning case considered under Section 32 of the Evidence Act; the deceased's plea that her husband not be beaten was held not exculpative of the accused; conviction upheld and the special leave petition dismissed; observations urging police sensitisation mechanisms and legislation for easier proof of such murders.
What did the court decide?
The statement by the dying woman that her husband should not be beaten, even though she was dying having been burnt, cannot be converted into one exculpative of the accused; it is a sentiment stemming from the values of the culture of Indian womanhood.