Thane court convicts woman for culpable homicide for death of her child

A court in Maharashtrarsquos Thane district has convicted a 29yearold woman on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder for causing death of her child and sentenced her to imprisonment for the term she has already undergone in jail since arrest in August 2018The woman a resident of Dhapsipada of Bhiwandi taluka was convicted by the court on April 9 but a copy of the verdict was made available on FridayThane Additional Sessions Judge RV Tamhanekar in his order held the accused Kalpana Nilesh Gaikar guilty of the offence of culpable homicide and sentenced her to jail term already undergone between August 10 2018 and May 30 2020The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on herAccording to Additional Public Prosecutor S H Mhatre the incident took place on August 8 2018 when the woman drowned her son aged 6 six months in a lsquonullahrsquoThe accused was regularly ill and the babyrsquos incessant crying prompted the mother to commit the crime Mhatre saidThe womanrsquos advocate Sunil Lasne pleaded for leniency and told the court she has two children aged one and seven years to look afterOn the other hand the prosecution sought maximum punishment up to 10 years for the woman prescribed under the law for the offenceThe judge in his order stated that the prosecution has proved the charge under IPC section 304 Part II culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the accusedThe court said ldquoThere is no record to show that the accused is a habitual offender or previously convicted But at the same time offence proved is of serious nature It is matter on record that the accused has been arrested on 10082018 and she was in custody till her release on interim bailrdquo Judge Tamhanekar in his order noted that the woman has lost her own childldquoSection 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code provides punishment with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extent to 10 years or with fine or with both if the act is done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death but without any intention to cause death or to cause such bodily injury as is likely to cause deathldquoIt is significant to note that the accused is the mother of child who died The reason may be one or other but the fact cannot be forgotten that the accused has lost her own child So considering the submissions I am of the opinion that further custody of the accused is not warranted and thereby following sentence jail term already served would meet the end of justicerdquo the judge notedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever