HC upholds life sentence for mother who killed child

Mumbai, Feb 13 (PTI): The Bombay High Court has upheld the life imprisonment imposed by a lower court on a young woman who jumped from the terrace of her house along with her 15-day old baby with a view to kill the child and commit suicide.

However, finding the infant still alive, the mother stabbed the infant with a kitchen knife as a result of which the baby's intestinal coils protruded out and it eventually died.

The judgement was delivered recently by justices Sadhana Jadhav and V K Tahilramani, who rejected the appeal filed by 21-year-old Savita Bhosale, a resident of Pune, currently lodged in Yerwada prison.

"Looking at the evidence on record, we find there is sufficient material to connect the appellant with the crime. Hence, there is no merit in the appeal," the judges observed.

The Court rejected the defence argument that the husband of the appellant had murdered the child and falsely implicated her in the murder. The judges referred to the evidence which said that the appellant was sleeping with her baby on a cot and her mother was also sleeping nearby.

"In such case, it would be highly impossible that the husband of the appellant would drag his wife with the baby to the terrace and then throw the appellant and the child down."

"If that was done, then the appellant would have certainly put up resistance and raised a hue and cry, due to which her mother could have awakened and rushed to her help. However, the mother of the appellant does not state any such fact," the court noted.

"Also, in case the husband had dragged the appellant and the baby to the terrace and pushed them down and later stabbed the baby, the mother of the appellant would have stated so before the court. On the other hand, the mother of the appellant has turned hostile. We find no merit in this submission," the judges opined.

The Court rejected another argument of defence lawyer that the baby accidentally fell down from terrace and fell on the grill and sustained injuries. "If this defence is to be believed, then blood would be seen on the grill, but no blood stains were found on the grill," the judges said.