GURGAON: A
woman
convicted of killing a
4-month-old
boy by feeding him acid used to clean washrooms, allegedly to settle scores with his mother after a dispute, was sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment by a
Panipat district
court on Monday.
Additional sessions judge Naresh Kumar Singhal observed in the Feb 5 order that Laxmi (28), a homemaker, did not deserve any leniency for her crime.
The judge also imposed a penalty of Rs 15,000 and directed Laxmi to pay additional compensation of Rs 25,000 to the parents of the infant. "The amount should be recovered from the person and property of the convict," the order said.
The case was reported on June 22, 2021, when Panipat police received a call about an infant being admitted to a hospital for acid ingestion.
Kanta (25), a native of UP's Hathras who was in Panipat with her husband and two children Shalu (4) and Harshit (4 months old), told police that Laxmi and her family lived in the same residential compound as them.
In May that year, Kanta had an argument with Laxmi over an issue about their children, she said. She said a month later, she had gone out to fetch water and when she returned, she saw that "something white in colour was oozing out of my 4-month-old son's mouth and there was acid on the floor".
Kanta took her son to a private hospital in the Model Town area, and a day later, doctors referred the infant to PGIMS-Rohtak. The boy died during treatment on June 24.
In the police complaint, Kanta pointed blame at Laxmi, saying she suspected that her neighbour would have fed acid to her boy.
Laxmi was arrested on June 25 and investigators recovered acid from her house. In October 2021, police filed a chargesheet against Laxmi under sections 302 (murder) and 328 (causing hurt by poisoning, etc) of the IPC.
On Tuesday, public prosecutor Sunil Dahiya said the autopsy report confirmed that the infant died of ingesting a corrosive substance. Investigators had also presented forensic samples. Laxmi's counsel Neeraj Narwal had argued before the court that there was no eyewitness. "There was no certainty and no motive was given," Narwal had said.
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