Punjab | Woman sentenced to death for kidnapping, burying toddler alive

Neelam sentenced to death for burying toddler alive after kidnapping her, in a rare and heinous crime. The court found her guilty of murder and destruction of evidence, causing outrage in society.

LUDHIANA: Over two years after the brutal murder of a toddler, the woman who killed her was sentenced to death by a local court. The convict had buried her neighbour’s two-and-a-half-year-old daughter alive.

The court of sessions judge Munish Singal pronounced her guilty of kidnapping the toddler, murdering her and causing disappearance of her body on April 12.

The quantum of sentence was pronounced on Thursday.

On Nov 28, 2021, the woman buried the child, Dilroz, alive in a pit near Salem Tabri area. Police booked her under Section 364 of the IPC (kidnapping with intent to kill) and later added sections 302 (murder) and 201 (destruction of evidence) after confirmation about the toddler’s death.

The child was abducted by Neelam in November 2021 when she was playing on the street outside her home. During the trial, the Prosecution told the Court that the accused had been planning the murder for quite some time as she had visited the plot, where the victim was buried, earlier and had already dug the pit.

The Court was told the place where the victim was buried was at a distance of about 12-13 Kms away from where she was kidnapped.

On the motive for murder, the Court noted that the accused was a divorcee with two children and she was living in the neighbourhood of the victim child. It found that jealousy, inferiority complex and animosity towards the neighbour and his children were a strong enough motive for her to commit the murder.

Pronouncing the quantum of sentence, the court observed that it was of the firm opinion that the case fell within the purview of the “rarest of rare cases” and called for imposition of capital punishment on the convict.

The court said that a lesser sentence would be a grave injustice not only to the victim and her family but also to the collective conscience of society.

“The accused, Neelam, is a menace to society and she continues to be so and cannot be reformed,” the court observed. The court added that in the case on hand, the convict, being a woman, was required to be compassionate and humane towards the little girl child, who had full trust on her but she crossed all limits of cruelty and killed the child in the most barbaric manner.

“There cannot be more graver, heinous and barbaric crime than burying alive a girl of the tender age of 2-3/4 years of age, who must not have understood the acts of her next door neighbour. On watching CCTV footage it is seen that Dilroz Kaur was standing in the front of the Activa scooter being driven by Neelam and in a happy and jovial mood. The small child must be thinking that her aunt, whom she used to call “Bua,” was taking her on a joyride or perhaps going to buy some goodies for her,” the court remarked.

The court added that little did the child know that she had been kidnapped by her “aunty,” who she trusted and she had no idea that her life would end soon.

“In fact, the tender child of 2-3/4 years does not even know about life or death. She must have been totally confounded when convict Neelam was stuffing sand into her mouth and burying her upside down into a pit. It was complete betrayal of trust of a minor child,” the court said.

The court also cited a judgement of Supreme court wherein the Apex Court had held that the case falls under category of 'rarest of rare case' when the accused who held position of trust and misused the same in calculated and preplanned manner to execute his diabolical and grotesque desire.

“In the instant case accused Neelam stooped so low that out of jealousy, inferiority complex and hatred towards family of child Dilroz Kaur, she unleashed her monstrous and cruel mindset,” the court observed.

Sources: The Times of India, Shariq Majeed; Bar & Bench, Staff, April 19, 2024

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