( 1 ) THIS is one more of the extremely sad wife burning cases where the accused-husband has been acquitted on the ground that the only piece of evidence against him namely Ex. P-13, the dying declaration, cannot be relied upon. The deceased Naheema had been married to the accused for something like 11 years and she was the mother of three children. The prosecution alleges that the accused Shefi ahamed used to not only treat her with high levels of unkindness but that he was not even providing for the family's necessities and on top of it that he used to come home drunk. On the evening of 19-1-1996 he came home drunk and demanded his food from the wife, who unfortunately told him that she was able to prepare very limited quantity of food which was only sufficient for the children and that it was not possible for her to give it to him. There was a violent quarrel between them and the husband had taken the can of kerosene oil and doused Naheema and set her on fire. She raised an alarm and ran out of the house screaming and the neighbours put off the fire. She was taken to the hospital with 65% burns virtually in an unconscious condition. The next morning her statement wa