JUDGMENT

Dr. Arijit Pasayat, J. —

1. Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the judgment of a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the appellant who was convicted for offence punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the ‘IPC’) and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.100/- with default stipulation.

3. Prosecution version in a nutshell is as follows:

Satyawwa (hereinafter referred to as ‘the deceased’) aged 28 years at the time of alleged incident was married to the accused about 15 years ago and it can be said that it was a child marriage. At the time of incident, the couple was gifted with two daughters, namely, Renuka and Chandrawwa. But the daughters were staying in Indira Nagar locality of Sangli, where the parents of deceased Satyawwa were residing. Satyawwa and accused were staying at Visa Pure Galli Miraj.

4. The incident took place on the night of 4th and 5th October, 1999 at about 2.30 a.m. on 5th “ October, 1999. As stated by Satyawwa before her death, accused - husband was drunk; he abruptly woke up at about 2.30 a.m. and started beating her and she got sca