JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-Respondent herein was found guilty of offences punishable under sections 302, 449 and 324 IPC by the Sessions Judge, Solan, Himachal Pradesh and was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 10,000 for the offence under section 302,10 years RI with a fine of Rs. 5,000 for an offence under section 449 and one year RI with a fine of Rs. 4,000 under section 324. In an appeal filed by the respondent, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, Simla, allowed the same, setting aside the conviction and sentence. It is against the said judgment of the High Court, the State of Himachal Pradesh is in appeal before us. Brief facts necessary for the disposal of this appeal are:

2. The respondent was originally engaged to be married to one Amarjit Kaur PW-6. For some reason or the other, said engagement was broken and she was married to Ranjit Singh PW-2 who is the younger brother of Respondent No.2. This was about 7 years prior to the date of the incident which was on the night of 27.9.1994. Prosecution alleges that being angered by the fact that his engagement was cancelled the respondent was constantly threatening PW-6 who was residing with her husband in t