Bombay HC denies bail in infant girl's killing, flags bias for male child

The Bombay High Court has refused bail to a man accused of killing his one-month-old granddaughter, with the Nagpur Bench observing that the preference for a male child persists in the country even after nearly eight decades of independence.

Justice M M Nerlikar, in an order passed on September 9, 2026, rejected the bail plea of Gopinath Janku Pradhan. The case against him was registered in 2023 by police in Gadchiroli district in eastern Maharashtra under charges of murder and destruction of evidence.

Pradhan is accused of drowning the infant in a tub because she was the second girl child born to his son and daughter-in-law. In his bail plea, he claimed innocence and pointed out that the child's mother, also an accused in the case, had already been granted bail.

The court noted that the infant was killed because the family did not want another girl child. It observed that the family members, all accused in the case, raised an alarm claiming someone had killed the child and staged a scene suggesting an animal may have taken the infant away. The cremation was also carried out in haste, the Bench said.

A local resident grew suspicious and informed the police, following which a case was lodged. The child's body was later exhumed, and a post-mortem examination found the cause of death to be asphyxia due to drowning.

While declining relief to Pradhan, the court held that his conduct and the manner in which the crime was carried out did not warrant bail.