Kolkata, Oct. 23 -- The Calcutta High Court has upheld the life sentences of a couple convicted of murdering a six-and-a-half-year-old girl and hiding her body in a bag beneath their cot, holding that the chain of circumstances established their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
A division bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Anuj Singh dismissed the appeal of Malay Ghosh and his wife, Priya, against their conviction for murder and causing disappearance of evidence. The court held that their false denial of the child's presence, attempts to misdirect the search and failure to explain her death inside their room reinforced the prosecution's case.
The incident occurred in Raghunathpur, Purulia, on July 21, 2011, when Tamalika, also known as Pupun, went to the house of her neighbour, whom she affectionately called Malay Kaku. When her mother went looking for her shortly afterwards, Priya denied that the child had visited their house.
After an overnight search, the child's body was recovered the following morning from a blue-black bag beneath the couple's cot, covered with pieces of thermocol. The post-mortem examination established that she had died from asphyxia caused by strangulation.
The bench relied on the testimony of a 10-year-old witness who had seen Tamalika enter the couple's room, evidence of the body's recovery and the couple's attempt to leave the premises the following morning. Their statements before a magistrate, in which both admitted that the murder occurred inside their room but blamed each other, corroborated other evidence.
The bench affirmed their convictions under Sections 302/34 and 201/34 of the IPC, including concurrent seven-year prison terms for causing disappearance of evidence. It directed them to surrender before the Purulia sessions court within three weeks. Failure to do so could lead to a non-bailable warrant.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.