Woman gets life term for killing three-year-old daughter in Amritsar hotel
A Yamunanagar court has sentenced a 36-year-old woman to life imprisonment for murdering her three-year-old daughter in an Amritsar hotel in 2022 and abandoning the body near Sri Harmandir Sahib
PTC Web Desk: Nearly three-and-a-half years after a three-year-old girl’s body was found abandoned outside Sri Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar, Punjab, a special district court in Haryana’s Yamunanagar has sentenced her mother to rigorous life imprisonment for the murder.
The court of Additional Sessions Judge Dr Sukhda Pritam, dealing with heinous crimes against women, convicted 36-year-old Maninder Kaur alias Simmi, a resident of Kuldeep Nagar in Yamunanagar, under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code for murdering her daughter, Divjot Kaur alias Simran.
Apart from the life sentence, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the convict. In case of non-payment, she will have to undergo an additional six months of imprisonment.
According to the prosecution, the case was registered at Gandhi Nagar police station in Yamunanagar on August 10, 2022, following a complaint filed by the accused’s husband, Kulwinder Singh.
During the investigation, the police found that Maninder Kaur had allegedly conspired with her lover, identified as Amit from Ambala, to eliminate her children, whom they considered an obstacle in their relationship.
Investigators revealed that Maninder Kaur married Kulwinder Singh in 2012, and the couple had two children, an eight-year-old son, Harkirat Singh, and a three-year-old daughter, Divjot Kaur.
Police records stated that the accused remained in contact with Amit, whom she had known since her college days in 2007-08. The relationship reportedly continued even after her marriage, leading to frequent disputes between the couple after her husband discovered their conversations and messages.
As per the investigation, on August 9, 2022, Maninder Kaur left her Yamunanagar residence with both children without informing anyone and travelled to Amritsar after allegedly coordinating with Amit through phone messages.
The trio first reached Ambala Cantonment before boarding a bus to Amritsar. After arriving in the holy city, the accused checked into a hotel using her identification documents.
Later that night, she allegedly strangled her three-year-old daughter with a dupatta inside the hotel room. The child’s body was then wrapped in a bedsheet and abandoned near Sri Darbar Sahib in the early hours of the morning.
The police said the accused returned to the hotel room afterward and attempted to behave normally to avoid suspicion.
During interrogation, the woman also allegedly confessed that she had planned to kill her son as well. However, the police traced and arrested her before she could execute the plan.
The prosecution relied on the accused’s disclosure statement, travel details, hotel records and other evidence collected during the investigation. After examining the evidence and hearing arguments from both sides, the court held the woman guilty of murdering her daughter and awarded her rigorous life imprisonment.