Firozabad Court Awards Death Sentence To Man For Toddler's Murder After Mother Rejected Marriage Proposal

A district and sessions court in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad has awarded the death sentence to a 24-year-old man for the murder of an 18-month-old boy, holding that the case fell within the "rarest of rare" category. The verdict came about 40 days after the crime, in which the man had repeatedly smashed the child onto a concrete road, after his proposal to marry the child's mother, who was also his sister-in-law, was allegedly rejected.

District and Sessions Judge Dr. Babbu Sarang sentenced Jitendra Pathak alias Viraj to death on Friday after convicting him of killing the toddler. Court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict.

Observing that the murder had "shocked the collective conscience of society", court noted that the victim was a helpless 18-month-old child who was killed with extreme brutality and without any provocation.

Finding no mitigating circumstances warranting a lesser punishment, it held that the case merited the maximum penalty.

The conviction came after a fast-tracked investigation. Police filed the chargesheet within six days of the incident, and the trial concluded in about 40 days. During the proceedings, the prosecution examined 13 witnesses, while the defence examined one witness.

According to the prosecution, the incident took place on May 30 in Yadav Colony of Shikohabad in Firozabad district.

The victim's mother, a school teacher, had been living at her parental home because of matrimonial disputes with her husband. The accused, who was a cousin of her husband and ran a grocery shop in Budaun, had allegedly earned the family's trust by assisting them in their legal disputes. During this period, he repeatedly proposed marriage to Rati, but she rejected his advances.

On the day of the incident, the child's mother and her mother had travelled to Shikohabad to meet a lawyer. The accused allegedly followed them and again asked her to divorce her husband and marry him. After she refused, he allegedly took the toddler away on the pretext of buying him a toffee.

The prosecution alleged that the accused then repeatedly slammed the toddler onto a concrete road, killing him on the spot, before abandoning the body outside the family's house and fleeing. The incident was captured on CCTV footage, which formed a key piece of evidence during the trial.

The accused was arrested later the same day following a police encounter in which he sustained bullet injuries to both legs. He was booked under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for murder, and the chargesheet was filed on June 4.

During the sentencing hearing, the defence sought leniency on the ground that the accused was mentally unstable. Court rejected the plea, holding that the nature and brutality of the offence left no scope for a lesser sentence.

The death sentence will now require confirmation by the Allahabad High Court before it can be carried out.