Judgment

PALEKAR, J.:- This is an appeal by special leave by the State from an Order of acquittal passed by the High Court of Bombay. The respondent Manglya Dhayu Kongil had been convicted under Section 302 and Section 376 r/w 511, IPC by the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Thana on April 27, 1968 and sentenced to death for the first Offence The High Court has acquitted him in appeal and hence the present appeal by the State.

2. The victim of the crime was an unmarried woman named Kamlabai Gangadhar Vaidya. She was about twenty six years old. She was working as a field Worker in the Family Planning Department and was attached, at the material time, to the Medical Dispensary at Kudus - a village in the interior of Thana District. This village has several hamlets, far flung from each other. Each hamlet consisted of a few huts belonging to Adivasi residents of the village. One such was Malanpada. The respondent is a resident of Malanpada. His father and brother Janu lived in one hut and the respondent himself lived in another hut. The deceased Kamlabai used to reside in another village named Chinchghar which is four furlongs away from Kudus. For the purpose of her work she had to vis