How a mother was sentenced to death for ‘human sacrifice’ of her infant daughter

Hyderabad: In a chilling case from Suryapet district, the path to securing a capital punishment verdict for the ‘ritual killing' of a seven-month-old girl was anything but straightforward. What began with strong testimonies took an unexpected turn when two key witnesses—the accused woman's husband and brother-in-law—turned hostile during the trial. However, earlier statements made by them in a separate case proved crucial in convincing the court to award the death penalty.
On April 11, the additional district and sessions judge in Suryapet sentenced Bhavani, 32, a housewife from Kodad, to death for the murder of her infant daughter in 2021—a crime committed as a supposed "human sacrifice" to rid herself of ‘sarpa dosham,' an astrological affliction believed to bring misfortune.
The crime was committed on April 15, 2021, at the family's home in Mekalapati thanda in Mothey mandal. According to the prosecution, Bhavani slit her daughter's throat in a ritualistic act intended to appease deities and change her fate.
Witnesses turn hostile
During the trial, Bhavani's husband B Krishna and her brother-in-law B Ramulu were the prosecution's first and second witnesses. In their initial (chief) examination, both stated that Bhavani had killed the child.
Krishna testified that only he and his bedridden father were at home at the time of the crime. "My father heard the baby crying and sensed something was wrong. Using a stick for support, he got up and saw Bhavani walking out with blood-stained clothes. She said she had offered our child as a sacrifice to get rid of sarpa dosham," he told the court.
Ramulu added that he heard his father screaming and rushed over with other family members. He also saw Bhavani leaving the house in blood-stained clothes, and the baby lying inside with her throat slit.
However, during cross-examination, both men retracted their statements and refused to directly accuse Bhavani of the murder—an unexpected development that could have derailed the prosecution's case.
Previous case turns the tide
What Krishna and Ramulu likely did not anticipate was that their earlier testimonies in a separate attempted murder case against Bhavani, heard just two days before, would come back into play.
In that case, Bhavani was convicted on April 9, 2024, by the assistant sessions judge in Suryapet for attempting to murder her husband by hitting him on the head with a one-kilo stone while he was asleep. The incident occurred on May 13, 2023, when Bhavani—then out on bail in the infant murder case—had returned to live with Krishna.
During that trial, both Krishna and Ramulu gave consistent and detailed statements, reaffirming that Bhavani had killed her daughter in 2021. Significantly, they made these claims not only in their primary statements but also under cross-examination. Both also confirmed that Bhavani had no mental health issues, countering any potential insanity defence.
Their testimonies from the attempted murder trial were submitted by the prosecution during the main murder trial—and the court accepted them as valid evidence.
Death sentence secured
Suryapet public prosecutor N Savender Kumar confirmed that the statements from the attempted murder trial proved instrumental in securing the death sentence for Bhavani, despite the witnesses later turning hostile. "The court took those earlier statements into account and delivered the maximum punishment," he said.