The Bombay High Court upheld life sentence of Shabira Mulani, who killed her one-day-old child in 1987 because the child was illegitimate.
While rejecting her appeal challenging the life sentence awarded to her by sessions court in Pune, a division bench of Justice D.G. Deshpande and Justice SR Sathe recently directed her to surrender by February 13.
According to public prosecutor VB Konde-Deshmukh Mulani from Kadade village near Pune, married one Yakub in 1983. However, due to internal conflict, she left her husband and returned to reside with her parents within one year.
Later she became intimate with another man in her village and got pregnant in 1986. She gave birth to a male child on March 4, 1987. Mulani injured the baby with a hair-pin and left it on the banks of River Pawana to die as he was out of an illicit relationship, said Konde-Deshmukh.
A fisherman and his wife found the baby on the banks later in the day and took him to the Sasoon Hospital in Pune. The child died the next day.
She was found guilty of murdering the child by Pune sessions court who awarded her life sentence. She was found guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence like her blood stained saree, the pin she used to injure the child, statement of the fishing couple and statement of the doctor who examined her after she was taken into custody.
{{/usCountry}}She was found guilty of murdering the child by Pune sessions court who awarded her life sentence. She was found guilty on the basis of circumstantial evidence like her blood stained saree, the pin she used to injure the child, statement of the fishing couple and statement of the doctor who examined her after she was taken into custody.
{{/usCountry}}While she has been out on bail since 1989, the court has asked her to surrender by February 13.
Email Urvi Jappi: urvi.jappi@hindustantimes.com