Amarjeet Sada, also known as “India’s Youngest Serial Killer,” shocked the world with his horrifying crimes at a very young age. Born on June 20, 1998, in a small village of Musahar in Bihar, Amarjeet’s case raises numerous questions about the factors that contributed to his violent behaviour that makes him a serial killer at a very young age.
Coming from a poor family, Amarjeet’s parents were labourers, struggling enough to earn wages to make ends meet. it was difficult for them to even gather 3 meals for a day. When Amarjeet was 7, his mother gave birth to a baby girl. They had to face more challenges as this baby girl was the third child of the family and with their meagre income, survival became more difficult.
As a child, Amarjeet was a reserved, quiet child, playing with knick-knacks, climbing trees, and roaming about the village. He had no friends and was a loner who enjoyed being in his own company. During this time, his aunt and his six-month-old cousin visited their home. Amarjeet’s aunt had just found a job in the city and she wanted to leave her child in their house until she settled into her career.
A few days after his aunt left, Amarjeet’s mother went to the local market to buy vegetables, leaving him in charge of the two babies.
As the boy looked at his six-month-year old cousin fast asleep in his bed, something sinister clicked inside him. Initially, he started pinching and slapping one of the infants, jumping with glee as the baby began to cry. Gradually, Amarjeet became bolder as he put his hands around the infant’s throat to stop his breathing. The baby began to gasp for air and cry.
Amarjeet laughed, enjoying the gruesome act. Finally, he killed the baby by strangulation. He then quietly went to the nearby forest, picked up a brick, and bashed the baby’s head to a pulp. He callously buried the baby under the grass and returned home quietly.
Amarjeet’s mother was shocked when he later confessed to her. She did not know what to do. Later that evening, his father physically punished him for his horrific act, but it was too late. Then they committed their first mistake.
Their parental instincts kicked in and instead of handing him over to the police, they shielded him and cooked up an “accident” story for his aunt. We do not know if the aunt believed the tale, but for the moment, Amarjeet escaped scot-free.
Further emboldened, the boy was ready for his next victim. It was a winter afternoon and his parents were taking a nap. That’s when Amarjeet turned his attention toward his eight-month-old sister.
He approached her, smiling as he gently lifted her from the cot and strangled her to death. Amarjeet’s mother woke up hearing the faint wails of the baby. She went into the room to breastfeed her, but upon picking the infant up, she immediately knew she was dead.
Weeping, she turned to Amarjeet and asked, “Did you kill your sister too?”
Smiling, he replied, “Yes.”
Both parents were shocked. His father slapped him and asked, “Why did you do it?”
His answer was both shocking and eerily insightful: “Just like that.”
This time the neighbours found out and advised Amarjeet’s parents to hand him over to the police. But his parents repeated their mistake and shielded him, imploring the neighbours not to reveal the matter. Amarjeet again escaped with no consequences; he was now addicted to the “game,” as he called it.
Amarjeet’s third victim was an infant outside his family and this time, he was caught in the act.
While roaming around the local school one day in 2007, he saw an infant inside a baby stroller. Her mother, Chunchun Devi, had needed to take care of some urgent errands and left her six-month-old baby, Khushboo, sleeping under a tree.
Amarjeet lifted the baby and took her into the mangrove forests adjacent to the school premises. There he smashed her face with a rock, killing her instantly. He then buried her in the grass and walked away.
As her mother returned and saw the empty pram, she raised the alarm. Everyone began searching for the baby and finally, somebody remembered that they had seen Amarjeet carrying her. Amarjeet was taken in for questioning, where he confessed his crime in vivid detail. He also admitted to his earlier crimes.
The police decided they had enough evidence with the confession to support a case against him. But according to Indian law, he could not be convicted for his crimes as he was too young and not yet an adult. He was put away for three years in a juvenile remand home, after which his whereabouts remain unknown.
Psychiatrists who examined Amarjeet Sada surmised that he might be suffering from a behavioural or “conduct disorder” that prevented him from knowing the difference between right and wrong.
Such anti-social behaviour is commonly seen in serial killers and may explain why Amarjeet took sadistic pleasure in torturing or killing someone weaker than him. His actions were due to a chemical imbalance in the brain, which can also be hereditary in some cases.
Psychologists say that the neurobiological factors that cause this type of aggression can be identified during childhood and possibly altered. Understanding how neurobiology and experience (nature plus nurture) combine to cause “conduct disorders” may help to treat aggressive behaviour in children before it causes physical violence.
He was also given medications and psychiatric counselling sessions during his three years in the juvenile remand home, but it’s unknown whether these efforts were successful.
The children’s home where Amarjeet was supposedly remanded is in the town of Munger in Bihar, a high-population city in east India. It is generally believed that in 2016, Amarjeet was released at the age of 18, though there is very little information confirming this.
His current whereabouts are unknown, but wherever he is, he’s living under a new identity with a new name. Society can only hope that he has been rehabilitated and that his urges to kill are gone.
- Neeharika Rajbhar
