Drugged her sons, drowned them one by one: 8-year-old’s testimony sends mother to gallows in UP; lover gets life term

AURAIYA: An eight-year-old boy’s courtroom testimony against his mother led to her conviction and death sentence for murdering his three younger brothers by drowning them in a river at the behest of her lover in Uttar Pradesh’s Auraiya last year.“A woman who can kill her children does not have the right to live in society,” additional district and sessions judge Saif Ahmed said Thursday. Judge Ahmed called it a “rarest of rare” crime and handed Priyanka (30) the death penalty and a Rs 2.5 lakh fine for killing her sons aged six, four, and 18 months. Her partner Ashish — who’s her dead husband’s nephew —was sentenced to life in prison and fined Rs 1 lakh.Investigators said Ashish told Priyanka he would only be with her if she “got rid of the children”.

Priyanka took her four sons to Sengur riverbank in Devarpur after a quarrel with Ashish on June 27, 2024. She had drugged them and threw them one by one into the water. Locals managed to rescue the eldest boy, who regained consciousness and later testified against his mother. The bodies of the younger boys were found soon after.Police arrested Priyanka and Ashish the next day. During trial, the son’s eyewitness account and statements from six others, including Priyanka’s brother-in-law, proved crucial for the prosecution.

“The court classified the crime as ‘rarest of rare’ after it was established beyond doubt that the woman intentionally drowned her children. It’s a horrifying act that demands the strictest punishment,” said govt counsel Abhishek Mishra.Priyanka had moved with her children to her parental home after her husband Avnish Kumar died of electrocution while she was pregnant with their fourth child. Facing financial hardship, she formed a relationship with Ashish.Priyanka’s family said they accepted the verdict. “She has been condemned for what she did. Ashish should have been hanged too,” her aunt said.