The main legal point established in the judgment is the importance of complying with the provisions of Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code for recording confessions and the admissibility of dying declarations.

Jaganmohan Reddy, J.

[1] This is an appeal by the accused against conviction under Section 304 para (1) of the Indian Penal Code and the sentence of 3 years R. I. passed by the Sessions Judge of Guntur. The accused was charged originally under Section 302, I. P. C., for the murder of his wife Mannem Lakshmamma by stabbing her with a knife and under Section 309 for attempting to commit suicide by stabbing himself with the same knife in his left abdomen.

[2] The prosecution alleged that the accused married the deceased after the death of his first wife eight years before the incident, but did not get on well with her. As a result the deceased came to live with her parents. The parents having come to know that the deceased was misbehaving with one Dhobi Narayana, P. W. 11. sent her away to Gudipudi, her husband's village.

The accused and the deceased visited her parent's house to attend the marriage of the deceased's brother and sister at Ponekallu and were staying in a portion of the house occupied previously by Ankamma, the deceased's uncle and his wife, who is the sister of the accused,

On the day of the occurrence except Gunji Thirupathamma, P. W. 3 one of the daughters of P. W. 1, all had gone to attend the marriage in Seetharamareddi's house and when P. W. 1 who is the grand-mother of the deceased returned at 1 P. M. she saw her daughter at the gate of Ankamma's house shouting that the accused was killing Lakshamamma after bolting the door. P. W. 1 and others who had come there shouted that the accused should open the door whereupon the accused opened the door with the left hand and with the knife in his right hand had stabbed himself in the left abdomen and fell down.

The knife also fell by his side. It is further stated that Lakshamamma was lying in a pool of blood struggling, and died a few minutes afterwards. P.W. 1 got a report written by Ramalingareddi whom she met on the way and gave the report Ex. P-1 to the Police. The Police came and sent the accused to the Government Hospital. The doctor found at least eleven injuries on the body of the deceased some of which were serious having pierced the diapharagm on the right side cutting several muscles as well as the right lung etc.

There is no doubt from the doctor's evidence that all these injuries were fatal and death could have occurred 24 hours prior to the post-mortem examination.

[3] According to the prosecution P. W. 1 and P. Ws. 3 to 6 are the eye-witnesses of the occurrence. As I have already stated P. W. 1 is the grand-mother of the deceased. P. W 3 is the daughter of P. W. 1, P. Ws. 4, 5 and 6 are witnesses who were attracted by the shouts of P. Ws. 1 and 3 and went to the scene of occurrence when they saw it. P. W, 9 is the father of the deceased who says that at the time of the occurrence, himself, his brothers and sons went to a hill at a distance of one mile from Ankamma's house.

On his daughter aged 8 coming and informing that her sister wag killed by the accused and that her husband also fell down unconscious, he and his brother came to the scene of offence and saw that his daughter was lying dead with injuries on her person. The accused was also lying with injuries. P. W. 11 is the Dhobi with whom Lakshamamma is said to have had illicit connection. P. W. 8 is the Resident Medical Officer, Guntur and he produced the accident Register from the Government Hospital, Guntur, 8-6-55 to 3-7-55.

The entry at page 8 of Ex. P. contains the injuries found on Mannem Edukondalu written by Dr. S. Rukmani. P.W. 16 is the Civil Surgeon. Ex. P-6 is the requisition for examination as to the injuries on the person of the accused. She admitted him as an inpatient. She found two injuries on him, one an incised wound tranaverse 1/2" in length just lateral and left to the unblicus, depth about 1/8th" rigidly in the left Elliact portion near the wound present. The other was a small incised oblique wound running outwards and downwards 1" above wound No. 1

It is 11/4" in lengt