Lalita vs Vishwanath 2025 INSC 173 - S 306 IPC - FIR By Deceased Person - Evidentiary Value

Indian Penal Code 1860 - Section 306 - Mere harassment or cruelty is not sufficient to infer abetement. There has to be some credible evidence that the accused persons aided or instigated the deceased in some manner to take the drastic step of putting an end to her life. (Para 22)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 154- If the informant dies, the First Information Report can be, unquestionably, used as a substantive evidence. A prerequisite condition must be fulfilled before the F.I.R. is taken as a substantive piece of evidence i.e. the death of the informant must have nexus with the F.I.R. filed or somehow having some link with any evidence regarding the F.I.R. (Para 32) F.I.R. can be a dying declaration if the informant dies of his injuries after lodging the same (Para 33) For an F.I.R. lodged by a deceased person to be treated as substantial, its contents must be proved. It has to be corroborated and proved for there to be any value of the same in the case. The F.I.R. can be used by the defence to impeach the credit of the person who lodged the F.I.R. under Section 154(3) of the Evidence Act. In case the death of the informant has no nexus with the complaint lodged i.e. he died a natural death and did not succumb to the injur- ies inflicted on him in relation to a matter, the contents of the F.I.R. would not be admissible in evidence. In such circumstances, the contents cannot be proved through the Investigating Officer. The Investigating Officer, in the course of his deposition, should not be permitted to depose the exact con- tents of the F.I.R. so as to make them admissible in evidence. All that is permissible in law is that the Investigating Of- ficer can, in his deposition, identify the signature of the first informant and that of his own on the First Information Report and he can depose about the factum of the F.I.R. being registered by him on a particular date on a particular police station. (Para 34)

Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 - Section 154-. It may happen that the informant is the accused himself. In such cases, the First Information Report lodged by him cannot be used as an evidence against him because it is embodied in the basic structure of our Constitution that a person cannot be compelled to be a witness against himself. (Para 30)