Allahabad HC acquits mother sentenced to death for killing three children

A bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Jai Krishna Upadhyay set aside the convictions of Priyanka and her alleged paramour, Ashish alias Daini. While Priyanka had been sentenced to death by the trial court, Ashish was sentenced to life imprisonment. The HC acquitted both and ordered their release forthwith, if not wanted in any other case.

The Allahabad high court has acquitted a mother and the uncle of her three children who were sentenced to death and life imprisonment, respectively, for their alleged role in the children’s deaths, holding that the prosecution failed to establish the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

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A bench of Justice Siddhartha Varma and Justice Jai Krishna Upadhyay set aside the convictions of Priyanka and her alleged paramour, Ashish alias Daini. While Priyanka had been sentenced to death by the trial court, Ashish was sentenced to life imprisonment. The HC acquitted both and ordered their release forthwith, if not wanted in any other case.

The court found that the testimony of the surviving eight-year-old child witness suffered from “irreconcilable contradictions” and showed “clear hallmarks of tutoring”.

The case involved the deaths of three children, Madhav (6), Aditya (5) and Mangal (4), whose bodies were recovered from the Sengur river in Auraiya on June 27, 2024.

According to the FIR, Priyanka had taken her four sons to a bridge over the Sengur river around 5 am in collusion with Ashish, the younger brother of her deceased husband with whom she allegedly had a relationship. It was alleged that they wanted to get rid of the children so they could continue their relationship. They allegedly attempted to drown all four children, but Sonu, the eldest, survived.

Sonu stated that the gram pradhan took him home, where he narrated the incident, following which the pradhan informed the police. He also said Manish, the first informant, was his uncle and that he had told him about the incident, following which the FIR was lodged.

However, Manish gave a different version, stating that the pradhan had informed the police about the deaths and that he received the information from there. He also said he did not know the name of the person who had informed him about the incident.

In its September 22 judgment, the court allowed the appeals filed by Priyanka and Ashish and set aside the trial court’s judgment convicting them under Section 302 of the IPC.