Killer sisters must hang, says SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the death sentence awarded to two Pune women by the Bombay high court for killing at least five children aged between one and seven years in Kolhapur about a decade ago.

This is the first time a woman will be hanged to death in India.

“We do not think that these appellants (convicts) are likely to be reformed,” a division bench of Justice KG Balakrishnan and Justice GP Mathur said.

The justices said that except for the convicts being women, there was no mitigating factor that could make them reduce the sentence. They observed that the women “are a menace to society” and directed the state’s jail administration to take necessary steps to execute Renuka and Seema Gavit of Pune.

The sisters’ mother, Anjana Gavit, who masterminded the kidnappings, died during the trial. Renuka’s husband Kiran Shinde, also involved in the killings, got a reprieve as he turned approver.