( 1 ) THIS is one more of the unfortunate and deplorable cases of wife burning and the accused/husband who had married the deceased Laxmi hardly eight days earlier, was put on trial on a charge of murder. The prosecution alleges that the young couple had come to stay at her mother's place and that on the evening of 4-6-1994 at about 5. 30 p. m. the accused desired to take Laxmi with him for a picture. She is supposed to have not only refused to come but abused him in the course of the argument whereupon it is alleged that he doused her clothes with kerosene in the kitchen on the first floor of the residence and thereafter caught her by the hair and pulled her against the stove as a result of which her clothes caught fire. Laxmi ran downstairs screaming for help with her clothes aflame and her mother and sister and several other persons who were neighbours who had gathered rushed there and extinguished the fire. According to them, the accused ran away from that place and that they covered Laxmi with some other clothes and that she was taken to the hospital in a tempo by the Fire Officer who had arrived on the spot by then. The doctor who examined her found that she had about 90% burns. She was given emergency treatment and admitted to the hospital. Something later, the Asst. Commissioner of Police came to the hospital and recorded her statement which was treated as a complaint. In this statement Laxmi has mentioned that pursuant to the quarrel over her refusal to go to see the picture that the accused threw kerosene, on her, caught her by the hair and pushed her against the stove whereupon her clothes caught fire. The police took the precaution, having regard to her condition being precarious, of sending for the Tahsildar who recorded her dying declaration at about 9. 45 p. m. on the same night. Laxmi's condition worsened and she died after four days. The police completed the investigations and put the accused up for trial on the charge of murder. The defence of the accused was that he had gone for a move with Laxmi's brother Umesh and that he was not even present in the house. The police have falsely, implicated him. The learned trial Judge placed heavy reliance on the complaint, the dying declaration and the evidence of the sister PW 4 as also the other persons who had assembled in the house immediately after the incident all of them consistenlty said that Laxmi told them that it was the accused who had set her on fire. The trial Court held that the charge of murder had been established and the accused was convicted of the offence punishable under Section 302, IPC, and sentenced to imprisonment for life. The present appeal is directed against that conviction and sentence. Mr. Patil, learned advocate who represents the appellant submitted that even though the complaint and dying declaration appear to be conclusive, that there are several latent defects and infirmities in these but more importantly, that the allegations to the effect that it was the accused who was responsible for the fire cannot be accepted by the Court. For the purpose, he submitted that it is very necessary for the Court to look at the evidence in a certain sequence and he has commenced by pointing out the evidence of DW 1 Dr. Dhonadkari who at the relevant time was the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, Belguam. He was the Casualty Officer, on duty at the hospital when Laxmi was brought there. He mentions that she had 90% burn injuries though her faculties were normal. She was conscious and was in a position to make a statement. He has very clearly stated that he recorded the history of the patient as told by her in the medico legal register and the relevant entry has been produced at Ex. D2. This entry supports his evidence in so far as it clearly states that the patient was conscious and was in a position to make a statement and in the entry in question, it is very clearly recorded that the burns were due to an accident when Laxmi