The Calcutta High Court has reduced the death sentence of a couple from Andhra Pradesh who were convicted of killing a one-year-old child to life imprisonment. The court said that both of them will remain in jail for at least 40 years without any possibility of early release.
The judges, Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi, explained that while the crime was cruel and serious, it did not fit into the legal category of the “rarest of rare” cases, which are the only ones that justify the death penalty. They added that capital punishment should only be awarded when there is no possibility for a convict to change or reform and that was not the situation here.
The case goes back to January 2016 when railway staff at Howrah station found a suspicious bag in the Falaknuma Express. They discovered the body of a baby with bruise marks inside the bag. Investigations revealed that the child was born out of an earlier relationship of Hasina Sultana before she began living with her husband, Sk Vannur Sha, in Secunderabad.
According to the prosecution, the baby often cried loudly which disturbed the couple as well as their landlord. The two used to beat the child regularly. One day while the infant was already suffering from fever, the child was assaulted again and given some medicine. Soon after, the baby stopped breathing and died. To cover up the death, Vannur Sha packed the body in a bag and left it inside the general compartment of the train headed to Howrah, after which it was later recovered.
In 2015, before this discovery, Hasina’s mother had already lodged a missing complaint when her daughter and grandchild disappeared from their home in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh. Later, the police traced Hasina who during interrogation revealed that she had married Sha and was living with him in Hyderabad when the tragedy happened.
In February 2024, a fast-track court in Howrah sentenced both Hasina and Sha to death. However, they appealed to the Calcutta High Court arguing that a court in West Bengal did not have power to try the case since the death occurred in Secunderabad. The High Court rejected this claim stating that since the baby’s body was found in Howrah, the trial there was legally valid under the Criminal Procedure Code.
While the High Court confirmed their conviction for murder, destruction of evidence and acting with common intention, it replaced the death penalty with life imprisonment. The judges also noted their ages, Hasina being 34 and Sha being 37 having no criminal history. Taking all circumstances into account, the court ruled that imprisonment without remission for 40 years would be the right punishment making it almost equal to spending their whole lives in jail.
