Mother accused of murdering an infant granted conditional bail

Kundapur: In a rare instance, the court granted anticipatory bail to Rekha (32), who is facing charges of killing her 15-month-old female child Sanwika and trying to kill her five-year-old son Satwika in Kubja river in her neighbourhood, Kumtiberu, Yadamoge village.

Case synopsis

Earlier, Rekha had lodged a false police complaint that unknown people who came in the cover of darkness in the wee hours on July 11 had kidnapped her child while she was sleeping. However, the lifeless body of Sanwika was found the next day in Kubja river at Karoor of Hosangadi village.

DSP Nisha who had taken special initiative regarding the mysterious disappearance of the infant, grew suspicious as the mother of the infant was changing her statements frequently.Eventually a case was registered based on the statements of the accused’s son Sathivik, under IPC section 302, 307 and 309.

Postpartum Psychiatric Disorder

Although the prosecution strongly objected to the anticipatory bail application submitted on the accused’s behalf, the defendants lawyer Ravikiran Murdeshwar argued that the accused did the crime as she was suffering from Postpartum Psychiatric Disorder, a which develops among some women soon after child delivery.

Listening to the arguments of both the sides, Udupi district sessions Judge G m Joshi granted conditional bail to the accused.