Man gets life imprisonment for killing toddler cousin

A court here has awarded life imprisonment to a man for killing a five-month-old son of his uncle over a property dispute.

District Judge S P Godhalekar, in his order issued on Saturday, convicted Sanjay Fagulal Chavan (24), a resident of Kapurbawdi area in Maharashtra's Thane city, under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 302 (murder) and awarded him life sentence.

The judge also awarded him three years' rigorous imprisonment each for offences under IPC sections 452 (house- trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means).

The court said all the sentences will run consecutively and not concurrently, and imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on Chavan.

The judge also awarded three years' imprisonment to the accused's mother, Pyaridevi Chavan (44), while pronouncing her guilty under IPC Section 324.

The accused's father had a dispute with the child's family over a house here in which they all resided, according to additional public prosecutor Ujjwala Moholkar,.

Sanjay Chavan demolished a partition wall of the house to which the child's mother had objected.

He, in a fit of anger, then stabbed the toddler to death and also attacked the child's mother.

During the course of trial, the prosecution examined as many as 14 witnesses, including the child's mother.

Relying on testimonies of the witnesses, the judge said the prosecution successfully proved the charges against the two accused beyond any reasonable doubt and that they needed to be convicted and sentenced.