K.T. Thomas, J.

1. Appellant inflicted a blow on the head of the deceased with the handle of a spade and the skull bone was broken. He died almost instantaneously. Appellant did not seriously dispute the allegation that it was he who beat the deceased like that. He pleaded right of private defence of his person as well as property. Both were repelled by the sessions judge and he was convicted of the offence under S.302 of the Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to imprisonment for life. This is his appeal.

2. Prosecution case is that at about 5.30 p.m. on 17-6-1987 while the deceased was trying to restore a sluice on a bund (for diversion of water flow), appellant rushed towards him with a spade and inflicted more than one blow on his head with its handle. When deceased fell down, appellant ran away with the spade. Deceased sustained extensive cracks on his skull including separation of skull bone at the left lambdoid suture. No doubt, the injury was necessarily fatal.

3. Some more details of the prosecution case are necessary for appreciation of evidence. Appellant had a small extent of paddy field situated on the north of deceased's land. Deceased raised banana cultivation i