1. - The appellant stands convicted and sentenced by the judgment dated the 19th October, 1978, for the offence under Section 304, Part-II, Indian Penal Code to five years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1000/-, in default of payment of fine to six month's further rigorous imprisonment.

2. The case relates to the incident which took place on June 5, 1978 in the noon in the field of Asu Beba in village Sinod. The prosecution case is that the accused beat his wife Mst. Harku with a 'Kamdi' (a thin stick) and caused 14 injuries on various parts of the body, as a result of which she died the same day in the night. The First Information Report of the occurrence was lodged by one Baldev Ram the next day at 10.30 a.m. at Police Station, Khinwsar, on which a case under Section 302 Indian Penal Code was registered and investigation started. During investigation the accused was arrested. The postmortem examination of the dead body of Mst. Harku was conducted by Dr. Ram Ratan on June 7, 1978. He found 14 injuries on the body of the deceased. All the external injuries found on her body were simple in nature, except injury No. 9. None of the injuries were on the vital part of t