Grisly child killers will be first women in independent India to be executed

With President Pranab Mukherjee rejecting the mercy petitions of two women convicted of kidnapping and killing five children between 1990 and 1996, the two sisters from Kolhapur in Maharashtra could become the first women in independent India to be executed. Renuka Shinde,41, and Seema Gavit, 36, were found guilty, along with their mother, of abducting young children from Western Maharashtra and using them to commit robberies. The duo would then dispose of the children when they became a burden. Shinde and Gavit were arrested in 1996 and sentenced to death by a Kolhapur Sessions Court in 2001. The sisters have been in Yerawada Jail, Pune, since then. The high court upheld the verdict on September 9, 2004 and the Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence in 2006. [caption id=“attachment_1670851” align=“alignleft” width=“136”] Renuka Shinde[/caption] [caption id=“attachment_1670853” align=“alignleft” width=“150”] Seema Gavit[/caption] The women were accused of killing at least 11 children between 1990 and 1996, with the prosecution claiming there could have been more victims. But they have been convicted on only 5 of those charges The sisters were allegedly introduced to crime by their mother Anjana Gavit and reportedly indulged in petty theft even as teens. Masterminded by Anjana, who died in 1998, they formed a ring of pickpockets that targeted temples, fairs, markets, etc. If any of them was ever caught in the act, the other sister, who would be carrying an abducted baby, would throw the infant on the ground or bang its head on the wall, the ensuing wails a distraction for the crowd. The children used in these crimes were from poor families. Those infants that were badly hurt would be neglected and starved. Eventually, to put an end to the crying, they would kill the child by banging his or head on a wall or pole. In one case they were accused of hacking the body of a child and keeping the pieces in a gunny bag. They then proceeded to watch a movie in a cinema hall with the bag near their feet. Their crimes were reportedly spread across  Pune, Thane, Kalyan, Kolhapur, and Nashik. “While I’m professionally and personally against the capital punishment, this is indeed one of the rarest of the rare cases where the perpetrators deserve the death sentence,” human rights lawyer and activist, Asim Sarode, told The Hindu   . Renuka’s husband, who was part of the ring, provided the statement that backed the prosecution’s case. The lawyer of the sisters, Manik Mulik, told The Independent that even though President Mukherjee had rejected the women’s plea for clemency he intended to file a fresh appeal this week. The buffer zone expired this weekend.