JUDGMENT :

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

1. By this appeal under Section 374(2) of the CrPC, the appellant herein calls in question legality, validity and correctness of the impugned judgment dated 5-9-2012, by which she has been convicted under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and pay a fine of Rs.3,000/-, in default of payment of fine to further undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year.

2. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 5-11-2011, the appellant caused the death of Farhan @ Sittu, aged 2½ years, by drowning in Rani Sagar Pond, Rajnandgaon and thereby committed the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC. Deceased Farhan @ Sittu was the nephew of the appellant’s husband. The appellant had entered into inter-caste marriage with Anwar Ali and immediately after marriage, they were residing separately in a rented house. It is the further case of the prosecution that on 5-11-2011 at 5 p.m., Anwar Ali (PW-10) – husband of the appellant brought his nephew Farhan @ Sittu to his rented house where he was living with the appellant and handed-over Farhan @ Sittu to the appellant. It is also the case of the prosecution that immediately thereafter Anwar Ali (PW-10) left the house for some important work. As the relationship between the children of Firoz Ahmad (PW-1) – father of the deceased child and Anwar Ali (PW-10) was quite cordial, deceased Farhan @ Sittu used to come to the house of Anwar Ali (PW-10) out of love and affection, but it was not liked by the appellant herein. On the date of incident, birthday of the son of appellant’s landlord Vidya Gaikwad was there and on that account, Anwar Ali (PW-10) had given money to the appellant to bring gift for landlord’s son as well as for Farhan @ Sittu and on the same day i.e. on 5-11-2011, Firoz Ahmad (PW-1) – father of the deceased child and brother of Anwar Ali (PW-10) informed that Farhan @ Sittu is missing from his house and he is not traceable in the house. Firoz Ahmad (PW-1) immediately came to the house of the appellant and enquired about Farhan @ Sittu then the appellant had no information about Farhan @ Sittu and they all enquired. Missing report was lodged at Police Station Basantpur. Next day, dead body of the deceased child was found floating in Rani Sagar pond pursuant to which morgue intimation (Ex.P-7) was got registered by Abbas Ahmad (PW-5) – uncle of the deceased child, to the effect that Farhan @ Sittu was missing from 5-11-2011 since 6 p.m. and his body is found floating in the Rani Sagar tank. Panchnama Ex.P-1 was conducted by Satya Prakash Tiwari (PW-16) and dead body was sent for postmortem to District Hospital, Rajnandgaon. Postmortem was conducted by Dr. V.P. Maheshwar (PW-14) and his postmortem report is Ex.P-9 in which cause of death was said to be asphyxia due to drowning. Thereafter, during morgue enquiry, statements of Sahida Begum (PW-11), Vidya Gaikwad (PW-12) & Premlal Sharma (PW-13) were recorded on 24-11-2011 & 25-11-2011 in which all the three witnesses have stated that they have seen the accused and the deceased going together by Scooty towards market. Thereafter, on 23-11-2011, Firoz Ahmad (PW-1) lodged written report vide Ex.P-3 suspecting foul play on the part of the appellant pursuant to which first information report (FIR) Ex.P-3A was registered for offence punishable under Section 304 of the IPC and thereafter, statements of Sahida Begum (PW-11), Vidya Gaikwad (PW-12) & Premlal Sharma (PW-13) were recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC on 24-11-2011 & 25-11-2011 in which they have stated that the appellant had taken the deceased on her Scooty towards Rani Sagar dam and left him alone pursuant to which firstly offence under Section 304 of the IPC was registered and the case was committed to the Court of Sessions for hearing and disposal in accordance with law. Statements of the witnesses were recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC..

3. After completion of investigation, charge-sheet was filed agains