Bombay High Court Suspends Sentence Of Mother, Alleged Paramour Convicted Of Drowning 10-Year-Old Boy In Canal
The Bombay High Court recently granted bail and suspended the lifetime rigorous imprisonment imposed on a woman and her alleged lover, both of whom were convicted for killing the woman's son as he allegedly learnt about their affair.
Sitting at the Kolhapur bench, a division bench of Justice Milind Jadhav and Justice Nandesh Deshpande noted that the motive attributed to the convicts -Ashwini Chavan and Sachin Kumbhar - was that they had an extra marital affair and the duo killed Chavan's 10-year-old boy on the ground that he learnt about their affair and would have disclosed the same to his father (Chavan's husband).
The judges, however, noted from Chavan's husband's testimony that he already was aware about the alleged extra-marital affair between Chavan and Kumbhar.
"What we find on reading the judgment and order on conviction is that the evidence led by the prosecution is circumstantial and not direct. Most importantly, the motive of the crime stands prima facie defeated when the witness action of PW-5, i.e., husband of accused No.1(Chavan), is perused, wherein he categorically states that he was aware of the extra- marital affair between the two accused persons. In that view of the matter, the prosecution theory becomes somewhat weak; however, that will undoubtedly be decided by us when we hear the criminal appeals, which have been filed in 2025, and there is very little chance that the said appeals will be decided immediately in the near future," the judges said in the order passed on July 3.
The judges, therefore, allowed the intervention applications filed by both Chavan and Kumbhar, both seeking bail and also suspension of their life sentence till their appeals challenging the January 30, 2025 judgment of a Sessions Court in Wai, Satara District.
Notably, the sessions court had found both Chavan and Kumbhar guilty of killing the former's 10 year old son by drowning him in a canal as he had learnt about the couple's extra-marital affair. Both Chavan and Kumbhar, who worked at a private company, feared that the child might disclose about their affair to Chavan's husband and thus, they eliminated him.
Appearance:
Advocates Rizwan Merchant, Sagar Shete, Sultan Khan, Arya Ambulkar and Aditya Raktade appeared for Kumbhar.
Advocate Shreyas Barsawade represented Ashwini Chavan.
Additional Public Prosecutor Shrikant Yadav represented the State.
Case Title: Sachin Shivram Kumbhar vs State of Maharashtra (Interim Application 1905 of 2025)
Citation: 2026 LiveLaw (Bom) 328