Chandigarh, April 18 (IANS) A Ludhiana court in Punjab on Thursday awarded a death sentence to a woman for the horrific murder of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl by burying her alive.

Sessions judge Munish Singal convicted the 35-year-old woman, Neelam, a resident of the Shimlapuri area, last week for killing the child. The court held her guilty on the charges of kidnapping and brutal murder of the child on November 28, 2021. The accused had buried the child alive and she died due to suffocation.

The quantum of the sentence was pronounced on Thursday.

According to the police, Neelam buried the child in a pit she dug in the Salem Tabri area on November 28, 2021.

An old rivalry with the victim’s family was the cause behind the crime. When the court held her guilty, the prosecution raised the demand for the death penalty, while the convict’s counsel sought the plea of leniency.

CCTV cameras recorded the crime in which the convict was taking away the child. On interrogation, she confessed to the murder. Neelam and her parents had sold their house when the crime took place and were shifting to another locality.

As per the postmortem report, the child had to endure horror and pain before she was suffocated to death. Doctors found the accused had bludgeoned the victim twice before burying her in a pit. There were two injury marks on the toddler’s head -- one on the forehead, and one on the back of her head. The injuries were caused by a heavy and blunt object or by smashing her head against something hard, as per the postmortem report.