Judgment

Thomas, J.-A love affair got swerved to the wrong side and sank into tragedy. The female partner in the affair, as it often happens, became the victim of the tragedy. Rekha, a working woman and Yarappa Reddy, the respondent - a milk trader - were the participants in the ill-fated romantic adventure. Rekha was badly mauled to death on the morning of the Martyrs Day (30th January) of 1982 for which the re­spondent Yarappa Reddy was indicted by the police. Sessions Court convicted him, but the High Court acquitted him. Thus the present appeal at the instance of the State by special leave.

2. Rekha was put up in a college hostel at Bangalore while she was doing her B.A. As she failed in the final examinations her father put her up in the house of a relative for prosecuting her studies. That relative’s daughter Anitha (PW-8) became her friend. Respondent Yarap­pa Reddy was living a few yards away from the house of PW-8. Respond­ent developed a fascination for Rekha which in due course snowballed into a love affair. They exchanged love letters between each other. In the meantime Rekha got a job as Receptionist in a company called “Azad Coach Builders”. She was later promoted as C