‘Bounden duty of parents’: Why Madras High Court refused to pardon couple who poisoned their disabled 9-year-old

Highlighting the fact that many parents make immense sacrifices and even lay down their lives for children born with disabilities, the court added that if the law permits the parents to eliminate children born with a mental condition, no such child would survive in this world.

Background

• The petitioners were the parents of the deceased child, who had a mental condition since birth.
• According to the prosecution, the family suffered significant mental distress and financial strain due to the child’s condition, leading the mother to resign from her position as a professor at a private college to look after the child.
• However, she was unable to maintain the child, and the family suffered from mental distress and a lack of peace of mind. They allegedly decided to murder their daughter.
• On October 1, 2018, the parents allegedly took the child to a temple and administered a pesticide mixed with a cool drink.
• Although members of the public intervened and the child was taken for medical treatment, she succumbed to the poisoning on October 6, 2018.
• In August 2022, the trial court found the parents guilty of murder under Section 302 and wrongful confinement under Section 342 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• Both were sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to pay fines.

Findings

• The court sympathises with the accused parents for the difficulties they faced in bringing up the child. It must be borne in mind that the child did not come into this world on her own but was born to the accused themselves.
• No one has the right to take the law into their own hands and “extinguish” the life of another person.
• It is significant to note that no police complaint was lodged by the accused parents.
• The complaint was lodged only by the village administrative officer on the day of the incident, stating that the accused parents had administered poison to the child.
• It is not the case of the defence that any third party administered poison to the child.
• It is an admitted fact that the child was administered poison while in the custody of the accused parents.
• The container sent for analysis was found to contain a chemical, and analysis confirmed the presence of an organophosphorus insecticide, which is a poisonous substance.
• The trial court rightly convicted the accused of the offence of murder.