JUDGMENT

Dr. S. Muralidhar, CJ. - This appeal is directed against the judgment dated 11th December, 2013 passed by the learned Additional District and Sessions Judge, Jharsuguda in S.T. No.11/10/11 of 2012-13 convicting the Appellant for the offence punishable under Section 302 and 498-A IPC and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for life and pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- and in default to undergo RI for one year for the offence under Section 302 IPC and to RI for two years for the offence under Section 498-A IPC.

2. The case of the prosecution was that the Appellant was working as Labourer under a contractor of Colliery. He was continuously quarreling with his wife and assaulting her on trivial matters. As per the FIR lodged by Basudev Jadav (PW 9) on 22nd July, 2011 at about 8 a.m., he went to a nearby shop to purchase gutkha and learned that the accused had assaulted his wife (deceased) in the previous night and again in the morning of 22nd July, 2011 by pressing her neck. The deceased became unconscious. Hearing about this PW 9 went to the house of the Appellant and found the deceased lying unconscious on the bed. The female neighbours of the Appellant were massagin