Judgment

Srinivasan, J.-The appellant was convicted by the Sessions Judge, Tirunelveli for offences under Section 302 and Section 309 IPC and sentenced to life imprisonment for the former and one year rigorous imprisonment for the latter. The conviction and sentence were con­firmed on appeal by the High Court and aggrieved thereby, the appel­lant has preferred this appeal.

2. This case of the prosecution is as follows :

On 13.1.85 at about 8.00 AM when PW 1 went to answer call of nature, he saw the appellant jumping into a well situated nearby and when he ran to the well and looked down, he saw that the appellant was strug­gling for her life and a male child’s body was floating. He went to the village nearby and brought PW 2, PW-3 and one Meera to the place of occur­rence. The three men went down the well and brought out the appellant. When questioned by them she replied that she could not withstand the daily torture at the hands of her husband and decided to bring an end to her life alongwith that of her children. The fire service people came and took out the body of the male child from the well. The appel­lant was taken to the hospital. PW 1 went to the police station and gave a com