The neutron emission, extensively used as a clock to measure fission delay, is not fully understood. There are ambiguities in interpretation of experimental results at higher energies and a dearth of information at low energies. In order to address these issues, a measurement of pre-scission neutron multiplicity (ν_pre) for ⁷Li+²⁰³Tl at low energy (E* = 43.7 MeV) have been carried out. The statistical model calculations incorporating shell corrections, constrained by fitting fission excitation functions down to energies near fission threshold, underestimate the experimental ν_pre values. At the energy of the present measurement, dynamical effects are found to be negligible. This would imply large emission of neutrons at the instant of neck rupture. More theoretical and experimental investigations are required to understand the behavior of low density neutron rich nuclear matter at the neck region.