Judgment

HANSARIA, J.- This appeal on certificate would require our decision, inter alia, on the question of evidentiary value of dying declaration made by gestures. This question arises, because from what is being stated later, it would be clear that the conviction of the appellant under Section 302 IPC is principally based on dying declaration of deceased, Meesala Ramanamma alias M. Venkata Ramanamma, who was none else than the wife of the appellant. As the deceased was not in a position to speak at the relevant time her dying declaration came to be recorded by a Magistrate on the basis of some nods and gestures made by her. It is this dying declaration which has led in the main to find the appellant guilty of murder of his wife which has resulted in his being sentenced to RI for life - the minimum punishment provided by law.

2. The appellant alone had faced the trial relating to murder of his wife. The Sessions Judge, Visakhapatnam, found the appellant guilty under Section 302 and sentenced him as aforesaid. On appeal being preferred before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, the same came to be heard by a Division Bench consisting of Justice Jayachandra Reddy (as he then was) and J