Thane: 38-Year-Old Man Sentenced To Life Imprisonment Under POCSO Act For Kidnapping And Murdering Toddler In 2013

A 38-year-old man who was arrested by the Thane police in 2013, for kidnapping a 1.10-year-old girl, later killing her and disposing her body in a river in Pune, was convicted by the special Prevention of Children against Sexual (protection) Act (POCSOA)court in Thane. The court held the accused, Shantilal Gaikwad, guilty of kidnapping and murder charges and sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, the prime charge of rape (POCSOA) was not proved against the man since the police could not find the body of the child. In the absence of the evidence against the prime charge, they could have relied on the confessional statement made by the accused, in which he accepted his guilt of killing the girl with a nearby stump, as she did-not stop crying.

On August 20, 2013, when a small child was playing right in front of her house located in Manpada, Thane. Around when the child’s father returned home from his work and inquired about his daughter, his wife casually replied that she was just playing outside their house and asked the husband to get the child back in the house as it had started turning  dark. When they checked for her, she was untraceable, so the panicked family approached the police station. 

On checking the CCTV footage, the police found that a 20-year-old Shankar Singh had allegedly kidnapped the child and had handed it over to Jahidur Shaikh, who picked up the child from Singh and left her at Thane station from where Gaikwad had picked up the child from Thane station and left to Pune. The CCTV footage produced by the police confirmed the crime of the child being shifted from one hand to another. 

When the family of the deceased child had filed for habeas-corpus before the Bombay High Court, the police had found a lost child in Bangalore, but the DNA test of the child did-not match the deceased father. It was thus learned by the police that it was in connection with some other case where a similar crime had been registered. The child, meanwhile, was united with her original mother.

As the habeas- corpus did not help the family, the police continued with its investigations and accordingly filed a charge sheet in the case. The charge sheet maintained that Gailkwad had picked up the child and had allegedly raped the child and took her to a  Jakumata Matt (Monestry) in Pune. There the accused handed the child to a lady named Sheri Salat and asked her to feed the child. The accused further purchased some ganja and nitrogen tablet and got intoxicated.

The accused, in his statement which was recorded before the Magistrate, said that he realized that he had made a mistake, and so he wished to confess his crime. The confession report before the Magistrate says, “I had given the small child to Sheru Salat. I along with her, went to Pune, to a monastery ( Math ) at Kamshet. I took ganja and nitrogen tablets from one Kisan Pardeshi in the monastery. I consumed said ganja and ate a nitrogen tablet. I was intoxicated, so, I took the said small girl from the tunnel of tree situated below said monastery. She was crying. I was under intoxication, therefore, with the help of a piece of stump in my possession, I assaulted her on her head. At that moment, she died. Therefore, I put her in a scrap bag and threw her in a river.”

The court, after going through the evidence, held that the police had no evidence against Singh and hence acquitted him of the charges. Further, Shaikh had absconded and hence his case was separated from the case. However, in the case of Gaikwad, there was no evidence against him that he had raped the child as the body of the child was not found. The accused is thus held guilty of murder and kidnapping charges.