ANANTANARAYANAN, J. :- The accused in this case (Natesan alias Natarajan) has been convicted of the murder of a young woman named Papathi (S. 302 I. P. C.) and also of attempting to commit suicide (S. 309 I. P. C.) by the learned Additional Sessions Judge of Coimbatore in S. C. 202 of 1959 on his file. The appellant has been sentenced to death upon the charge of murder, and to simple imprisonment to a period of one year upon the charge of attempt at suicide. 2. The facts are extremely simple, and the appellant does not really dispute that he did stab the victim of the occurrence with a knife. His case is that she at first attempted to inflict some injuries on him with the weapon, and that he wrested the weapon from her and inflicted the grievous injuries on her in self-defence. The simple matter for consideration, upon the merits, is whether there is any semblance of truth in this counter-version advanced by the appellant at the trial.

3. The unfortunate victim of this incident was a young girl of about 19, and married to one Nachimuthu (P.W. 6) about six months previous to this crime. Sometime before this crime, the accused seems to have attempted to take liberties with he