In Brief
A woman died in a fire on 19 August 2012, allegedly caused by burning with kerosene. Her dying declaration named only one person (Chanchal @ Babita). The complainant later alleged nine others, including the appellants (her in-laws), were responsible. The trial court summoned the appellants under Section 319 Cr.P.C. (to add new accused) for murder, relying on general witness statements. The Supreme Court set aside this order, holding that Section 319 Cr.P.C. requires strong evidence likely to lead to conviction—not mere probability or vague imputations. Since the dying declaration named only one person and witnesses gave no specific overt acts attributable to the appellants, no prima facie case existed for summoning them.
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