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Delhi HC urges Delhi government to commute killer mom’s sentence

Manju, who was married off as a child and lived in a slum, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the trial court refused to show any leniency to a woman charged with female infanticide.

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After giving birth to a girl child three years ago in a government hospital, Manju, an illiterate and impoverished woman, killed the baby within hours.

Manju, who was married off as a child and lived in a slum, was sentenced to life imprisonment as the trial court refused to show any leniency to a woman charged with female infanticide.

The Delhi high court (HC) upheld the verdict, but accepted her plea for leniency, urging the Sheila Dikhsit government to take into account the social, economical and family background of the 18-year-old and if possible, commute her sentence.

However, justices Pradeep Nandrajog and Suresh Kait didn’t rule out the possibility that some helpless mothers, such as Manju, prefer death for a newborn girl, lest it suffers at the hands of dowry-seekers and traffickers.

Though killing a female child is a “sin against god”, the judges said, “the plight of Manju is akin to that of her unborn child”.

“No reasonable and rational person would accept female infanticide. It is not only a penal offence but a sin against god… The problem in India is acute and contempt for the girl child is seen everywhere,” they said.

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