In a criminal appeal of Surendra Singh Routele vs. the State of Jharkhand, 2010. The Supreme Court held that the mere absence of the medical certificate of the state of the mind of the deceased doesn’t render the dying declaration unacceptable under section 32(1) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.

In this case, the accused contended that the dying declaration made by the deceased hadn’t been accepted as it was in the absence of the medical certificate by the doctor regarding his fitness of mind.

The state contended that the mere absence of a medical certificate didn’t render the dying declaration unacceptable. For the acceptance of the dying declaration medical certificate is not a mandatory condition.

In Laxman vs State of Maharashtra, the court held that the absence of the medical certificate of the injured person regarding his state of mind and subjective opined about the condition of an injured person by the magistrate doesn’t render the dying declaration not acceptable.

The bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Ajay Rastogi in this criminal appeal after examining the evidence on record said that the judicial magistrate told this court that doctor hadn’t given any certificate regarding the state of the mind of an injured person, but he orally told me that he was in a fit state of mind and would be able to make the dying declaration.

The court decided that the medical certificate by the doctor is not a mandatory condition for accepting the dying declaration as a piece of evidence under section 32(1) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.