JUDGMENT

FAZAL ALI, J. :— This appeal by special leave is directed against the judgment of the High Court of Gujarat by which the conviction and sentence of the appellant under S. 302 were confirmed. The appellant was sentenced to imprisonment for life.

2. The facts of the case have been detailed in the Judgment of the High Court and it is not necessary to repeat the same. It appears that on 31-3-1973, the deceased was going from a hotel and passing through Suvai Bazar when the appellant and two others accosted him and the appellant assaulted him with a dharia on the head as a result of which the deceased died.

3. The central evidence in the case consisted of two eye-witnesses P. W. 22 and P. W. 23 and three dying declarations made by the deceased - one before the constable Parveen Singh, P. W. 24 another before P. W. 29, the P. S. I. and a third before a Taluka Magistrate P. W. 12 Jagjivan. Both the Courts below have accepted the three dying declarations made by the deceased before the witnesses concerned. The High Court has also believed P. W. 22 and the finding of the High Court was criticised on the ground that P. W. 22 was examined by the police five days after the occurrence an