Mother, step-father sentenced to life imprisonment for teenaged girl's murder

A court in Odisha's Balasore district on Thursday sentenced a woman and her second husband to life imprisonment for the murder of her 13-year-old daughter.

Additional Sessions Judge, Balasore, Biswajit Das also slapped a fine of Rs 5,000 on the convicts, and failure to pay it will attract an additional jail sentence of six months, Special Public Prosecutor Pranab Kumar Panda said.

The convicts, identified as Baby Biwi and Sk Abdul Rahim, residents of Khwajabag in Balasore town, were arrested by the police after the deceased's father Sheikh Qutbuddin lodged an FIR on June 25 last year alleging that his daughter was killed by her mother.

The complainant said that the deceased was living with her mother and step-father and that she died under suspicious circumstances on June 22 last year.

During the investigation, it was found that Biwi and Rahim had strangled the girl to death as Biwi's second husband was not ready to accept her in their new lives.