Archive · 15 Jan 2026
Convict Challenges Life Term in Purulia Needle Murder Case
A man named Sanatan Goswami was originally sentenced to death for a very bad crime.
He and another person, Mangala Goswami, were found guilty of hurting a little girl so badly that she died.
The girl had many needles inside her body.
Later, the high court changed their punishment to life in prison but said they can't ask for early release for 30 years.
Now, Sanatan is telling the Supreme Court that he is innocent and that the court made a mistake.
He says there isn't enough proof to show he did the crime.
He also says the court didn't consider important things like how poor he is and how the media made people think he was guilty before the trial.
Sanatan Goswami, convicted in the Purulia needle murder case, is challenging his life sentence in the Supreme Court.
He and Mangala Goswami were originally sentenced to death but the high court commuted it to life imprisonment without remission for 30 years.
The case involves a three-and-a-half-year-old girl who died after seven needles were found in her body.
Goswami argues that the high court's judgment was based on flawed circumstantial evidence and did not consider his socio-economic vulnerability.
He claims that his continued incarceration is causing financial and emotional hardship to his dependent family members.
- Who
- Sanatan Goswami, one of the two convicts in the Purulia needle murder case
- What
- Challenging his conviction and sentence in the Supreme Court
- When
- After the Calcutta High Court commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment without remission for 30 years
- Where
- Supreme Court of India
- Why
- Claims innocence and argues that the high court's judgment was flawed and based on circumstantial evidence
- Convicts
- Mangala Goswami and Sanatan Goswami
- Victim
- Three-and-a-half-year-old girl
- Date of Incident
- July 11, 2017
- Date of Death
- July 21, 2017
- Original Sentence
- Death penalty
- Commutation
- Life imprisonment without remission for 30 years
- Court
- Supreme Court of India
- Charges
- Section 302/120B IPC