Mother gets life term, son with poor vision freed in double murder

Babu Molla was charged with murder of 5-year-old boys and sentenced to death twice by the Berhampore court, but he got a reprieve and was acquitted by the Calcutta High Court. Babu Molla's alleged motive for the murder was that he wanted to gouge out the eyes of the boys and then transplant them in his own because of his badly impaired vision. He had been charged with putting two boys to death for acquiring their eyes. First Babu Molla was put behind bars in April 2009 in connection with the first case of murder of a boy. His mother, Manjuma, was given life imprisonment. His travails continued after another boy went missing in his village in April last. There was intense search by the people and the police, but little Sohail could not be found. Two days later, Sohail's toddler friend alleged that he and Sohail were playing when Molla called them over to his home. After some time, Molla asked him to go away, but Sohail was asked to stay back. That was when the toddler disappeared. Three days later, Molla's mother, Manjuma, was seen trying to dump a basket in the village pond. A woman raised an alarm and the basket was retrieved. It contained Sohail's body. Pathological tests on the toddler's body revealed that it had been dead for between 48 and 72 hours. There was a deep cut on its neck and its eyes had been gouged out. Molla's house was then searched. A blood stain on the wall was discovered as well as a syringe and a bottle. The High Court found inconsistencies in the prosecution version, and an amicus curiae was appointed. The amicus curiae, Sekar Basu, too found several inconsistencies in the prosecution case in the trial court. The High Court found that there was never any direct evidence against Babu Molla and set aside the sentence of death on him. Molla was acquitted, while his mother's life imprisonment was stayed.