“I will not attend his funeral, and no one should even come to inform me about it. We have not been in contact with him for 10 years. I don’t want to see his face. He should not just be hanged; he should be burnt alive. Still, it won’t cool down my raging soul.

She added that the family now faces immense public ignominy due to his “inhuman act.”

Echoing his mother’s sentiments, the accused’s son also expressed his shame and shock. “I feel ashamed to call him my father. He has committed an inhuman act and deserves to be killed in the same manner in which he killed that toddler,” the son said.

“That little girl was like my niece. She should get justice. I have 11 nieces and nephews of my own. I am deeply pained and shocked.”

“We live in the land of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, where we must protect our women and girls. The wrongdoer should be punished severely,” he added.

The accused is now in the custody of the Pune Rural police for the alleged kidnapping, rape, and murder of the girl on May 1. The Maharashtra government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Pune Rural police, comprising six officers led by a senior woman inspector, to probe the case.