Kerala HC Acquits Woman Sentenced to Life for Murder of Newborn

The Kerala High Court has acquitted a woman who was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for allegedly killing her baby right after its birth in 2009 and disposing of the body in a nearby abandoned property. 

A bench of justices Raja Vijayaraghavan V and K V Jayakumar said that the prosecution has failed to prove the charge of murder against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. 

The High Court also said that the prosecution "miserably failed" to prove the alleged motive -- to conceal the illegitimacy of the pregnancy -- as the accused's sister-in-law and a neighbour



were aware she was carrying.

"If that be so, the alleged motive for the concealment of the illegitimate pregnancy and the consequential murder of the newborn child cannot be believed. Furthermore, there are several missing links in the chain of circumstantial evidence. 

The weapon allegedly used for strangulation was not recovered by the police. "Likewise, the weapon used for inflicting cut injury on the child was also not recovered by the prosecution. The possibility of intervention by a third party in the commission of the crime cannot be ruled out in the case on hand," the bench said.