Mumbai: A 30-year-old unmarried mother was on Saturday convicted and sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment for abandoning a newborn girl in 2020. The sessions court observed that the accused’s placement of the deceased infant’s body in an open area constitutes an act of concealment of the child’s birth.
The woman, who was proved as the biological mother of the infant through DNA tests, has already spent five years in jail since her arrest in 2020 and her sentence will be set off against the time she has already served as an undertrial.
“It needs to be observed that the accused being the new mother of the infant, was responsible for the custody of the infant with herself. Finding of such infant lying at a public place is a circumstance which the accused was required to explain…the prosecution has established that the accused was intending to conceal birth of a child to her and that after the birth of the child, who is not proved to be a live born child, she has disposed the body of the child at the public place,” judge Shayana V Patil said.
While the woman was charged with murder and destruction of evidence after it was suspected that she threw the child from the sixth floor kitchen window of her flat following her delivery at home, the charges could not be proved.
Public prosecutor Geeta Sharma sought the maximum sentence of two years against the accused under section 318 of Indian Penal Code that deals with ‘concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body’.
“Considering the nature of offence which has been committed by the accused, who happens to be mother of the newly born infant herself, the gravity of the offence certainly enhances. Therefore, maximum punishment prescribed for the offence is required to be awarded to the accused,” the judge said.
On Aug 4, 2020, the infant was found between two residential buildings at Ghatkopar by a milkman who alerted the police. The woman had concealed the pregnancy from her immediate family as she was unmarried.
Mumbai: A 30-year-old unmarried mother was on Saturday convicted and sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment for abandoning a newborn girl in 2020. The sessions court observed that the accused’s placement of the deceased infant’s body in an open area constitutes an act of concealment of the child’s birth.
The woman, who was proved as the biological mother of the infant through DNA tests, has already spent five years in jail since her arrest in 2020 and her sentence will be set off against the time she has already served as an undertrial.
“It needs to be observed that the accused being the new mother of the infant, was responsible for the custody of the infant with herself. Finding of such infant lying at a public place is a circumstance which the accused was required to explain…the prosecution has established that the accused was intending to conceal birth of a child to her and that after the birth of the child, who is not proved to be a live born child, she has disposed the body of the child at the public place,” judge Shayana V Patil said.
While the woman was charged with murder and destruction of evidence after it was suspected that she threw the child from the sixth floor kitchen window of her flat following her delivery at home, the charges could not be proved.
Public prosecutor Geeta Sharma sought the maximum sentence of two years against the accused under section 318 of Indian Penal Code that deals with ‘concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body’.
“Considering the nature of offence which has been committed by the accused, who happens to be mother of the newly born infant herself, the gravity of the offence certainly enhances. Therefore, maximum punishment prescribed for the offence is required to be awarded to the accused,” the judge said.
On Aug 4, 2020, the infant was found between two residential buildings at Ghatkopar by a milkman who alerted the police. The woman had concealed the pregnancy from her immediate family as she was unmarried.
