Ludhiana woman gets death for burying alive neighbour’s 2-yr-old girl

Rajneesh Lakhanpal

Ludhiana, April 18

The court of Sessions Judge Munish Singal has awarded death penalty to 35-year old woman Neelam of Kwality Road, Shimlapuri, Ludhiana, on the charges of kidnapping and brutal murder of a minor girl Dilroz Kaur, aged 2 years 9 months, on November 28, 2021.

“The convict has crossed all limits of cruelty and killed the child in most barbaric manner as if it was a medieval ara. There cannot be more graver, heinous and barbaric crime than burying alive a girl of tender age, who must not have understood the acts of her next door neighbour”, observed the court.

“The entire act of committing murder of a girlchild by burying her alive is a scar on human values and the accused has breached the trust of neighbours and humanity. In fact, the report of the Superintendent of Women Jail, Ludhiana, speaks volumes that the convict was beyond possibility of reformation”, observed the court, while declining the plea of leniency raised by the accused.

Victim’s lawyer Parupkar Ghumman and Additional Public Prosecutor BD Gupta said the prosecution examined 25 witnesses to prove their case. The challan was presented on December 24, 2021. The file reached the court on January 3, 2022. Charges were framed on January 14, 2022. The CCTV footages and unshaken testimony of the witnesses led the accused to death penalty.

The court observed that on watching the CCTV footages, it was seen that Dilroz Kaur was standing in the front of a scooter, being driven by Neelam and Dilroz can be seen in a jovial mood. The child must be thinking that her aunt, whom she used to call ‘bua’, was taking her on a joyride or perhaps going to buy some goodies for her. Little did she know that she had been kidnapped by her and her life was going to end soon.

Rather, there was no sudden or grave provocation which might have been the reason behind the murder. The convict kidnapped the child around 2.15 pm that day and both of them travelled for about 15 km on the scooter of the accused, for about 35/40 minutes, meaning that the accused had sufficient time to rethink on her decision, but she was adamant to murder the child.

She must have first travelled to find the most deserted place outside the city and dug a pit therein and, therefore, it took just 10 minutes to gag the child with bury her alive, it said.

During this period, the child must have inhaled sand particles which suffocated and choked her lungs and the death must have been extremely painful. The poor child did not even get the time to cry for help, the court observed.

Mercy appeal declined

Woman pleaded mercy on the ground that she was a divorcee, having two children aged 11 years and 8 years. Her father had already died.

Parents break down

Harpreet Singh (father), Kiran Kaur ( mother) broke down after the verdict. They came out of the court with solace that justice had been served on them.

Revenge murder case

Dilroz Kaur was the daughter of senior constable Harpreet Singh, posted in the India Reserve Battalion of the Punjab Police. Neelam committed the crime as she was upset by the alleged rude attitude of Harpreet, who used to stop her children from playing in the street. After the arrest, she had stated that the victim girl’s father had scolded her children, due to which she decided to take revenge by killing his daughter.

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