A.R. Joshi, J.

1. Present sole appellant-accused was convicted by III Additional Sessions Judge, Sangli by judgment and order on 8th October, 2004 in Sessions Case No.78 of 2003.

2. The appellant-accused was convicted for the offence punishable under Section 302 of I.P.C. and was sentenced to suffer imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs.500/- in default to suffer rigorous imprisonment (R.I.) for six months. Being aggrieved by the said judgment and order of conviction the accused has preferred present appeal.

3. Rival submissions are heard at length. Perused the notes of evidence. Also perused the reasoning given by learned Additional Sessions Judge while convicting the accused for the offence punishable under Section 302 of I.P.C.

4. In order to appreciate the rival submissions and mainly the defence raised on behalf of the appellant-accused, the case of the prosecution is narrated, as under:-

5. The accused is a married person, having his family and children, residing in the vicinity of one Ramanna PW-1. Said Ramanna is father of the deceased Shakuntala. Said Shakuntala was earlier married with one Bhimraya Birajdar of Samnal, taluka Shindagi. Within few days of marriage there was matrimonial dispute and Shakuntala left her husband's place and came to her parents at Umadi, taluka Jat, District Sangli. Since five to six months prior to fateful incident which occurred on 10th December, 2002, Shakuntala was residing separately in one rented room at Umadi. When Shakuntala deserted her husband and came to her parents for shelter, present appellant-accused, being a resident of neighbourhood, was frequently visiting the house of her parents and as such got acquainted with Shakuntala. Shakuntala and the appellant-accused developed love affair and also developed illicit relations between them. In due course of time, the appellant-accused had reduced his visits to Shakuntala’s house. However, continued his illicit relations. At the relevant time of the incident, there was a sort of quarrel between Shakuntala and appellant accused on the count that the appellant-accused was showing disinterest in her and was neglecting to maintain her. On the fateful day of 10th December, 2002 at about 2:00 p.m. there was some altercation between Shakuntala and the appellant. She demanded that the appellant should maintain her as his wife, as she had already deserted her husband. The appellant was reluctant to continue the said relations since he was a married person and it was not possible for him to maintain Shakuntala as his wife. That time Shakuntala demanded Rs.5000/- back from him, which she had given as loan to the appellant. At that time, the appellant was under the influence of liquor. On the same evening at about 7:00 p.m. the incident of burning occurred. That time the appellant accused poured kerosene on the person of Shakuntala and set her on fire. The clothes of Shakuntala caught fire and as such in order to save herself, she poured water on her person. After the incident of setting Shakuntala on fire, the accused left the place and ran towards his nearby house. While Shakuntala was on fire and sustained burn injuries on her stomach, hands, thighs, etc. she ran towards the house of the accused and informed the incident to the family members of the appellant, but they did not listen to her. On the contrary, they abused her. Thereafter, Shakuntala covered her body by means of some cloth (Lungi) and reached Primary Health Centre, Umadi for treatment. She reached there at about 9:00 p.m. She was initially treated by PW-3 Dr Sandeep. She gave history and informed that her husband – accused set her on fire at about 7:00 p.m. on that day. Said history was written down by attending doctor in the case paper.

6. Dr Sandeep informed the police and accordingly PW-2 A.S.I. Appasaheb Pawar, (Umadi Police Station), reached Primary Health Centre and recorded the statement of then injured Shakuntala after obtaining the opinion of the att