Pandrang Row, J.

1. The appellant has been convicted of the murder of a boy of 12 years and sentenced to death by the Sessions Judge of Vizagapatam. The boy was seen last alive in the morning of 22nd October last. A search was made for him and a report was made to the police that he was missing and a dead body was discovered on 26th October at a spot marked A in the plan. The body was considerably decomposed, most of the soft parts having been eaten away by maggots but, the mother and two other relations of the boy were able to identify what remained of the deceased as his remains. A pair of gold ear-ornaments, which the boy was wearing when he was last seen alive, were however found to be missing and these are alleged to have been sold by the appellant on the very day on which the boy was last seen alive and in the very village to which the boy belonged.

2. The evidence against the appellant is entirely of a circumstantial nature, but this is not to say that the evidence is not strong enough to justify, and in fact to require, his conviction. Unfortunately however it is impossible for us to say whether the evidence is sufficient or not because of the failure of the learned J