1. Jealousy, on account of love affair of two men with one woman, ultimately resulted in the death of one and upon conviction, sentence to life imprisonment of the other in the case out of which the present appeal has arisen. The common beloved was Krishna Kumari, respondent No. 2 (hereinafter referred to as "A2") and one of her paramours was Soman deceased, whose decapitated head and headless body were recovered from a river in Kerala. After completing his postgraduation, the deceased Soman was in the employment of Canara Bank posted at Thirurangadi Branch. The other paramour of the woman is P. Sugathan (hereinafter referred to as "Al") who, on the date of occurrence, was Sub-Inspector of Police posted at Police Station, Ramankiri.

2. Upon trial, Al and A2 were convicted for the offences punishable under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code including S.302 and sentenced to imprisonments, the maximum of which was the life imprisonment. The accused No. 3 tried with them was convicted and sentenced for the offences under S.201 read with S.34 of the IPC. The conviction and sentence of Al was upheld but the conviction of the lady, accused A2, under S.302 IPC was set asi