Judgment

K. JAYACHANDRA REDDY, J.: - This is an appeal under Section 379, Cr.P.C. read with Section 2 of the SC (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Act, 1970. The sole accused is the appellant before us. He was tried for an offence punishable under Section 302, I.P.C. The gravamen of the charge was that on the night of 9-7-78 at mid night he poured kerosene oil on Bai Gauri the deceased in this case and set fire as a result of which she died on the next day. The case rested mainly on the dying declarations recorded by the Doctor and the Magistrate. The learned Sessions Judge was not prepared to act upon the dying declarations and accordingly acquitted the appellant. The State preferred an appeal. The High Court allowed the appeal and convicted the appellant under Section 302, I.P.C. and sentenced him to undergo imprisonment for life. Hence the present appeal.

2. Learned counsel for the appellant submitted that the deceased had serious burns on her and it would not have been possible for her to make dying declarations and that P.W. 2 the Doctor who recorded the first dying declaration has not truly recorded the same in the words of the deceased and that his evidence itsel