1. This case has come before us in appeal and for confirmation of the death sentence passed by the learned Sessions Judge of Alleppey on the appellant Kuttappan for the murder of one Sarada. The appellant was also convicted under S.392, I.P.C. for robbery and sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term of five years.

2. The deceased Sarada Amma was a young Nair girl of 18, studying for her B.Sc. Degree in the Marthoma College, Thiruvella. She was living with her mother, aunt and others in the village of Nedumpuram about three miles from Thiruvella and used to make her daily trips to the college and back by bus. When returning from college she used to alight from the bus at the stop near Podiyadi junction and walk the rest of the distance to her house along a narrow path in a sugar-cane plantation. On 3rd September 1959 Sarada returned from the college by the 5-30 bus. She was seen getting down from the bus and proceeding in the direction of her house through the sugar-cane plantation, but she failed to reach home.

3. The accused Kuttappan is an Ezhava boy aged 19, a toddy tapper by profession. The prosecution case is that the accused who was a neighbour of the deceased