Surat man sentenced to life for killing toddler daughter over suspicion of wife's infidelity

The Surat Sessions Court has sentenced Jayesh Vasava to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of his 18-month-old daughter. The court found Vasava guilty under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 302 (murder), concluding that he fatally assaulted the child out of a paranoid suspicion regarding his wife's fidelity.

The tragic incident occurred in April 2020 at the family’s residence in Tarsadi village, Mangrol. According to the prosecution, Vasava frequently quarrelled with his wife, accusing her of having an extramarital affair and claiming that the daughter was not his biological child. On the night of April 25, 2020, while his wife was cooking dinner, the accused began assaulting her and the children. When the toddler began to cry, the accused flew into a rage, slapped the child, and repeatedly slammed her onto the floor.

The child’s lifeless body was discovered the following morning with visible injuries to her face, back, and thighs. Medical testimony from the doctor confirmed that the cause of death was a severe head injury and subsequent respiratory failure. The autopsy revealed multiple external contusions and internal bleeding in the brain, consistent with a violent assault rather than an accidental fall

Despite the defence's argument that the child had accidentally fallen from her mother's arms, the court upheld the prosecution’s case based on credible eyewitness testimony from the victim's mother and the accused's own sister. Along with life imprisonment, the court recommended reasonable compensation for the complainant under the Gujarat Victim Compensation Scheme 2019.