S.Ashok Kumar, J.

...

The appellant who was the sole accused in S.C.No.228 of 2000 and convicted and sentenced by the learned Principal Sessions Judge, Erode Division, to undergo imprisonment for life for the offence under Section 302 I.P.C. and also simple imprisonment for one year for the offence under Section 309 I.P.C., has filed this appeal.

2. The brief facts of the prosecution case are as follows:-

The accused is the husband of the deceased Chitra. Two and half years prior to the occurrence, the marriage between the accused and the deceased took place. Out of the wedlock, they got a female child. P.W.1 Eswari is the sister of the deceased. P.W.2 Nagu @ Nagaraj and P.W.3 Sellammal are the father and mother of the deceased. The accused and deceased lived at Chellappagoundanvalasu. The accused thought that the deceased Chitra was a spendthrift and he also suspected her fidelity and hence, he used to quarrel with the deceased and abused her due to the above suspicion. He did not attend to his work regularly. On the fateful day, P.W.1 and the deceased went to the Government Hospital, Perundurai for taking treatment to the child of the deceased. Then, the deceased returned