Chennai: Woman who killed 6-yr-old son, dumped body in septic tank gets life

CHENNAI: The additional district and sessions judge, Poonamallee, on Friday sentenced a woman to life imprisonment for murdering her six-year-old son, whom she first knocked unconscious with a screwdriver, then smothered him with kerosene and set him on fire and later dumped his body in a septic tank.

The incident took place in 2018, and the convict mother took the unthinkable step allegedly fed up with domestic disputes.

According to prosecution, the convict S Meenakshi married Saravanan against her parents’ wishes in 2011. She lived with her husband and their son Jayakanth in Krishnagiri for over five years. Soon differences arose between the couple. The woman started shuttling between her husband's house and parents' house in Karayanchavadi near Poonamallee often, and about a year before she was arrested for her son's murder, she had sent a notice to her husband.

In the last week of December 2018, she left Krishnagiri with her son and went to live in her parents’ house, where she murdered him.

"She struck her son Jayakanth on the head with the handle of a screwdriver, rendering him unconscious. She then poured kerosene over him and set him on fire, killing him. To ensure his death, she threw Jayakanth's body into a septic tank behind the house," the prosecution stated.

During the trial, the woman claimed that she and her son were injured from electrocution and that she passed out and was unaware of what happened.

"The postmortem certificate did not support her version, and it said the injury marks were caused by kerosene burns. The evidence that a forensic expert collected from the crime scene--a black tar-like substance scrapped and collected from the house, the cotton used to wipe charcoal, a bedsheet, and a piece of burnt cloth seized from the boy's body—showed kerosene traces.

“Therefore, the argument presented by the learned counsel for the accused that the burns were not caused by kerosene but resulted from an accidental electrical leakage fire is not acceptable. Though no eyewitnesses are available to testify that kerosene was poured on the boy, the presence of kerosene on the clothing attached to the deceased's body and the kerosene found inside the house at the scene of the incident indicate that the child was doused with kerosene and ignited. The child was six years old, making self-immolation unlikely. These circumstances suggest that the fire was not accidental," stated C Vijayakumar, additional district and sessions judge, Poonamallee.

The judge further wondered, "The act of moving the body of the deceased from the occurrence place to the septic tank could only be done by human intervention. If the fire had been caused by an electrical issue, why was the body of the deceased thrown into the septic tank?"

Holding that all the evidence proved that the boy's death was homicidal, the court held the woman guilty of murder and sentenced her to life imprisonment and also slapped a fine of Rs 1,000.