The following legal principles governing a dying declaration are that :-

(i) It can be the sole basis of conviction if it inspires the full confidence of the court.

(ii) The court should be satisfied that the deceased was in a fit state of mind at the time of making the statement and that it was not the result of tutoring, prompting or imagination.

(iii) Where the court is satisfied that the declaration is untrue and involuntarily, it can still base its conviction without any further corroboration.

(iv) Where the dying declaration is suspicious, it should be acted upon without corroboration.

(v) It cannot be laid down as an absolute rule of law that the dying declaration cannot form the sole basis of conviction unless it is corroborated. The rule requiring corroboration is merely a rule of prudence.

(vi) If a dying declaration suffers from infirmity such as the deceased was unconscious  and could never make any statement, cannot form the basis of conviction.

(vii) If a dying declaration does not contain all the details as to the occurrence, it is not to be rejected.

(viii) If it is a brief statement, it is to be discarded.

(ix) When the eyewitness affirms that the deceased was not in a fit and conscious state to make the dying declaration, medical opinion cannot prevail.

(x) If after careful scrutiny, the court is satisfied that it is true and free from any effort to induce the deceased to make a false statement and if it is coherent and consistent, there  shall be no legal impediment to make it the basis of conviction, even if there is no corroboration.

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