Punjab crime: Ludhiana woman gets death penalty for burying toddler alive

38-year-old woman kidnapped, murdered two-and-a-half-year-old daughter of neighbour, who is a police constable, after an argument with his family three years ago

Ludhiana resident Neelam Kaur, 38, was on Thursday sentenced to death for burying alive Dilroz Kaur, the two-and-a-half-year-old daughter of her neighbour, Harpreet Singh, who is a police constable, after an argument with his family three years ago.

Police personnel taking Neelam Kaur, the murder convict, to court before the judgment was pronounced in Ludhiana on Thursday. (Gurpeet Singh/HT)

The court of sessions judge Munish Singal ordered that the murder convict be hanged to death for the brutal crime committed on November 28, 2021.

“We had urged the court to consider this a barbaric incident and impose death penalty,” said senior advocate Parupkar Singh Ghumman, who represented the victim’s family.

Victim Dilroz Kaur’s father Harpreet Singh holding up her photo after the court announced the death sentence to Neelam in Ludhiana on Thursday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

Neelam, a divorcee and mother of two boys, was held guilty by the court after arguments concluded on Tuesday before she was sentenced on Thursday.

Police said Neelam had a longstanding feud with Dilroz’s family members as they would check her sons, aged 8 and 10 years, for creating ruckus in the neighbourhood in Shimlapuri locality.

On November 28, 2021, she kidnapped the toddler when she was playing in the lane at 2.15pm and drove off on her scooter to Salem Tabri, which is 13km away.

Ghumman said that Neelam had got the pit prepared earlier with the motive to kill the toddler.

Kiran Kaur, the mother of Dilroz, gets emotional after the court sentenced her daughter’s killer to death in Ludhiana on Thursday. (HT Photo)

The police swung into action half an hour later when the toddler’s grandfather, Shaminder Singh, reported the matter. Neelam even accompanied the police team along with the family members and other neighbours in looking for the toddler. It was only when the police confronted her on getting hold of CCTV footage, which showed her taking the girl on the scooter, that she broke down and admitted to committing the crime.

“Initially, she denied knowing anything about Dilroz’s whereabouts. However, after she was questioned and shown the CCTV footage, she confessed,” the lawyer said.

Neelam was to shift from the Shimlapuri locality with her sons and parents the day she committed the crime, Ghumman added.