In Brief
A man was accused of murdering his pregnant wife by pouring kerosene on her and setting her ablaze, and also killing their young son in the incident. The wife gave multiple consistent dying declarations before dying from her injuries. The High Court had acquitted him, but the Supreme Court reversed that decision. Finding the dying declarations credible and consistent with corroborating medical and circumstantial evidence, the Court convicted the respondent of murder. However, it modified the death sentence to life imprisonment, applying the doctrine of 'rarest of rare cases', holding that life imprisonment serves the requisite criteria of punishment in this case.
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