Thane: Stabbing baby to death gets man life in prison

THANE: A mother-son duo who had stabbed a five-month-old to death over an old family feud in 2015 were recently convicted by the district sessions court in Thane. The court showed no mercy for Priyadevi Chohan (44) and her son Sanjay (24) who had, at his mother's instructions, repeatedly knifed the baby to death while he was asleep. The infant's mother who had tried to save her child had suffered injuries.
District judge S P Godhalekar awarded three years to Priyadevi for instigating her son to knife the infant to death and sentenced Sanjay to life.
Prosecutor Ujjwala Moholkar told the court that there was a dispute among family members, especially the father of the accused and the victim over their property in Thane,
On December 7, 2015, the family of the accused was razing a partition wall of the house they shared with the victim's family. As the victim's mother objected, Priyadevi and Sanjay assaulted her. The mother of the accused asked her son to enter the bedroom and attack the child. Sanjay rushed in and inflicted a dozen stab wounds, killing the toddler on the spot.
During trial, 14 witnesses were examined including the child's mother. Relying on the testimonies, the judge said that the prosecution had successfully proved charges against the two and that they needed to be convicted and sentenced.
The judge also awarded Sanjay three years for other offences. It said all sentences will run consecutively, not concurrently, and imposed a fine of Rs 35,000 on Sanjay.