Agra: Father Who Killed Seven-Year-Old Son Believing Him to Be ‘Ravan’ Sentenced to Life Imprisonment

In a deeply disturbing case highlighting the dangers of superstition and blind faith, a court in Agra has sentenced a father to life imprisonment for the murder of his seven-year-old son, whom he believed to be an incarnation of ‘Ravan’ under the influence of tantric rituals.

The verdict was pronounced on Thursday by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADJ-29) Dinesh Kumar Chaurasia. The court held the accused father guilty of murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment along with a fine of ₹50,000.

The incident dates back to August 10, 2019. According to the prosecution, the accused, Amit, a resident of Mahadev Nagar New Abadi on Shamshabad Road under Tajganj police station limits, had recently become deeply involved in tantric practices and rituals. Under this influence, he began believing that his elder son, Rishi (7), was ‘Ravan’ reborn and that killing him would bring welfare to the family.

Concerned by Amit’s behavior, family members had reportedly started keeping Rishi away from him. However, on the day of the incident, Amit took the child with him on the pretext of dropping him at school. When Rishi did not reach school, the family grew suspicious. Amit’s mother later followed him to the school, only to learn that the child had never arrived.

The family began searching for Rishi and soon spotted Amit descending from the rooftop of a nearby house, with bloodstains on his shirt and mud on his feet. When questioned, he falsely claimed that he had dropped the child at school. Shortly afterward, the family was informed that the body of a child had been found in the basement of a shop near Kahrai Mod. The body was later identified as Rishi’s. Investigations revealed that the child had been brutally murdered with a sharp-edged weapon.

Police arrested Amit within hours of the crime and sent him to jail. A purported tantric, Preet Singh, a resident of Swami Dayanand Colony in North Delhi, was also arrested for allegedly influencing the accused. However, during the trial, the court acquitted the tantric due to lack of concrete evidence. Although his mobile number was found in Amit’s phone records, location data showed that the tantric was in Delhi at the time of the crime.

During the trial, the accused’s wife and parents turned hostile and retracted their earlier statements. Despite this, the court, taking into account the seriousness of the crime and the available evidence, found Amit guilty and awarded him life imprisonment.

The judgment has once again underscored the grave consequences of superstition and the urgent need for awareness against blind belief practices that can lead to irreparable tragedies.