JUDGMENT :

Sanjay K. Agrawal, J.

1. This criminal appeal preferred by the appellant herein under Section 374(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure is directed against the judgment of conviction recorded and sentence awarded by the learned Fourth Additional Sessions Judge, Bilaspur (CG), by which, he has been convicted for the offence under Section 302 of the IPC and sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and further sentenced to pay a fine of Rs.100/-, in default, to further undergo additional imprisonment for one month.

2. Case of the prosecution, in brief, is that on 5/4/2009, at about 1:00 am, the appellant compelled deceased Kavita Patel to marry him and also compelled her to consume insecticide and thus, he abetted her to commit suicide. The appellant also tried to strangulate the deceased and thereby, he committed an offence under Section 306 and in alternative, an offence under Section 302 of the IPC. Further case of the prosecution is that the appellant and the deceased, both were having a love affair, but the marriage of the deceased was settled by the father of the deceased Navratri Lal Patel (PW-1) with some other person and the date of marriage was also fixed for 22.4.2