Calcutta High Court: Suspended Sentence Of Woman Convicted For Murder Of 6-Year-Old Step Daughter

The Calcutta High Court in the case Naju Bibi @ Narjina Bibi v The State of West Bengal observed and has suspended the sentence of the women who was being sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court for killing her killing the six-year-old daughter with prison.
The Division bench comprising of Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray in the case observed and has stated that it being not a case where it can be said that she has absolutely no chance of succeeding at the final hearing of the appeal.
Therefore, the said court also noted the fact that the woman has already spent over six years in prison and that her appeal against conviction is still pending.
The court in the case observed and has stated that since the said appeal is pending, the conviction of her has not attained finality. She has spent about six and a half years in incarceration. Thus, if the said appeal is accepted at whatever future point of time, indeed, no one will be able to compensate the applicant for the time lost in jail by reason of conviction for a crime that she has not committed.
In the present case, the woman being an accused of giving her step daughter, who was six years of age at the relevant time, the sweets laced with poison and she was being convicted in the month of December 2018.
The counsel appearing for her submitted before the court that the alleged inconsistencies in the prosecution evidence, the State stated that such discrepancies are minor in nature and would not affect the merit of the trial court decision.
The court in the case observed and has also relied upon the decision on various proceedings in order to grant relief to the convict, the court stated there being no certainty of the appeal being finally decided at an early date in view of the large number of cases pending. Accordingly, the court granted the bail.