1. The appellant Shamla, a resident of Mungeli, Bilaspur district, has been convicted of the murder of a small crippled boy of 5 years of age and has been sentenced to death. The child was murdered on 24th November 1939, the accused disappeared from Mungeli the same day and was found working in a rice mill in Raigarh State under the assumed name of Itwari and was arrested on 19th December. The child was a cripple, having deformed feet, and the child's mother Mt. Bija deposes that when she went every day to work in the fields she sometimes took the child with her and sometimes left him at home. On the morning in question she had considered taking the child to the fields, but Shamla, who lives close by and who was fond of the child, picked it up and petted it, and so she left the child with him. On her return at midday the child was not to be found, and Shamla on being questioned said that he had left it playing in the lane. Mt. Dasmat, a vegetable seller, deposes that about 9-30 that morning on her way to the market she saw the accused and the child together and that her attention was attracted by the fact that the accused had picked up the child which was crying and she tol