JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. - Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur holding the appellant guilty of the offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the IPC). The appellant was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.50,000/- with default stipulation. It was directed that if the deposit is made, same shall be paid to the legal heirs of the deceased. Though the trial court had convicted the appellant in terms of Section 324 IPC and imposed sentence of five years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1,000/- with default stipulations, the same was set aside by the High Court.

3. Accusations which led to the trial of the accused are as follows:

Farzana Bi (PW-4) was married to the appellant, but after about a year of their marriage, the appellant started drinking liquor and harassing her with the result her father Sheikh Qadir (PW-1) fetched her back and sent her to the house of his brother-in-law at Bhusaval. The appellant, therefore, tried to bring back Farzana Bi (PW-4), but Sheikh Qadir (PW-1) refused to send her and stated