Judgment

JASWANT SINGH, J. :- This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment and order dated October 12, 1973 of the High Court, Delhi confirming the judgment and order dated July 29, 1972 of the Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi convicting the appellant under S. 302 of the I. P. C. and sentencing him thereunder to imprisonment for life for causing the death of his wife.

2. Briefly stated, the circumstances giving rise to this appeal are : Attracted by the screams emanating from the house of the appellant situate in Basti Chain Sukh Das, Kala Mahal, Daryagani, Delhi on the afternoon of July 6, 1971, the neighbours namely Murari Lal (P. W. 4), Gulab Singh (P. W. 5) and one Kishan Lal rushed to the spot. On reaching the first floor of the house, they found the appellants wife named Kamla, aged 27 years, lying unconscious outside the living room in the courtyard with burns all over her body. Along with the appellant who was present there, they covered Kamla with a bed-sheet, put her on a cot and took her downstairs in the street where from she was removed in a tempo to Irwin Hospital, Delhi. At about 5.20 in the evening on that day, constable Baldev Singh (P. W. 7) posted