JUDGMENT :

(Biren Vaishnav, J.)

1. This appeal has been filed by the appellant-State under Section 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, against the judgement and order of acquittal passed by the learned Sessions Judge, Amreli, in Sessions Case No.99 of 1995 on 20.12.1999. By the aforesaid judgement, the Trial Court has acquitted the respondent-accused of the offenses punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

2. The brief case of the prosecution is that on 30.09.1995, at around 15:00 hours, the accused at his house, had sprinkled kerosene on the deceased Manishaben Pravinbhai-the wife of the accused, causing her death by burns. According to the prosecution, the motive of the accused was that he had a doubt that his wife had an illicit relation with the distant relative. The accused was tried for offenses under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

3. In pursuance of the investigation, a First Information Report was lodged with the Bagasara Police Station for the offenses punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. During the investigation, several statements were recorded of the witnesses, various panchnamas were drawn including the panchnama of the sc