( 1 ) THIS is one more of the very distressing situations in which the prosecution alleges that the accused, pursuant to some quarrel between the spouses, had doused the cloths of the deceased wife by the name of Laxmi with kerosene oil and set fire to them in their house at about 5 PM on 20-8-1995. The couple had been married for about ten years and the record indicates that the accused was working for the railways, that he took to the habit of drinking and not attending to his duties properly, that he lost his job and that he was thereafter working as a coolie. His wife Laxmi who was the mother of two children apparently used to live part of the time with her mother P. W. 6 Muniyamma. On that day she had come from her mother's place and there was some quarrel between the spouses in the course of which the accused is alleged to have kicked and assaulted Laxmi and then set her clothes on fire. P. Ws. 3, 4 and 5 who are the neighbours sought to intervene and they maintain that despite knocking on the door it was not opened and therefore, seeing smoke and realising that something was amiss they broke the door open. They saw Laxmi with her clothes blazing and the accused was also stan

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