Judgment

Santosh Hegde, J.-The appellant in the above appeal was charged with an offence punishable under Section 302 I.P.C. before the VIth Addi­tional Sessions Judge, Madras in S.C. No. 83/86 who found him guilty of the said offence and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life. His appeal before the Division Bench of the Madras High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 1054 of 1986 came to be dismissed and he is now in appeal before us by special leave.

2. The prosecution case stated briefly against the appellant is that he was married to one Jabeena on 29th January, 1984 and after the marriage for some time they resided in an independent house. In the year 1985, Jabeena gave birth to a male child in her parents house and thereafter the appellant came to live in the house of his father-in-law Mohd. Ahamed (PW-1) in the house bearing Door No. 22, 11th Ave­nue, Ashok Nagar, Madras. The said house contained one bed room in the ground floor which was occupied by PW-1’s elder daughter and her husband. Out of the four bed rooms on the first floor, one bed room was occupied by PW-1 and his wife, the second bed room next to that was occupied by the appellant and Jabeena with their child, the