Pilibhit: Terming the brutal murder of a nine-year-old girl by her own family as a “rarest of rare” case, the court of additional district and sessions judge (III) Vijay Kumar Himanshu on Tuesday sentenced her father to life imprisonment until his last breath. The girl’s grandfather and three uncles were also sentenced to life in prison for their roles in the crime.
The crime took place on the intervening night of Dec 2 and 3, 2022, in Patti village under Amaria police station of Pilibhit district. Chargesheets were filed in April 2023, and all five convicts, who were out on judicial bail granted in June 2023, were taken into custody following the judgment. However, police investigations revealed that Aneesh had taken his daughter to a religious fair, sedated her and hidden her with the help of his family.
Aneesh initially lodged an FIR claiming Sheikh had killed his daughter Anam. When the child began regaining consciousness, Aneesh struck her forehead with a brick and repeatedly stabbed her in the abdomen with a knife until she died. The suspects then hid her body in an agricultural field. The court noted that Aneesh filmed a video of his dying daughter to use it as false evidence against Sheikh and circulated it on social media. Though several witnesses later turned hostile, the viral video and evidence gathered by police proved crucial in securing convictions.
The court found the victim’s father, Aneesh (30), his father, Shahzade (65), and his three brothers—Shadab, Naseem, and Salim (aged between 35 and 40)—guilty of murder (IPC Section 302), criminal conspiracy (IPC Section 120-B), and causing disappearance of evidence (IPC Section 201). The court imposed a cumulative fine of ₹58,000 on the convicts. Additional district govt counsel (ADGC) Devendra Sharma said the court observed the murder was a cold-blooded conspiracy to frame a rival, Shaqil Sheikh, who had previously filed a court complaint accusing one of the suspects of rape in 2020.