Seema Gavit and Renuka Shinde

Sisters Seema Mohan Gavit (born 1975) and Renuka Kiran Shinde (born 1973) are Indian serial killers convicted of kidnapping thirteen children and killing five of them between 1990 and 1996.^[1][2] In association with their mother Anjanabai, they were active in various cities in western Maharashtra – Pune, Thane, Kalyan, Kolhapur, and Nashik.^[1][3] The reason for kidnapping the children was to take them to crowded places where one of the trio would try to steal people's belongings. If the thief was caught, she would either try to evoke sympathy through the child, or create a distraction by hurting it. The kidnapped child would later be killed.^[1]

The trio were arrested in November 1996, along with Renuka's husband Kiran Shinde, who later turned approver and was pardoned. Anjanabai died of illness within two years of being arrested, with the trial yet to begin. In 2001, the Sessions Court at Kolhapur found the sisters guilty of kidnapping thirteen and murdering six children. The Bombay High Court in 2004 upheld the conviction but acquitted them of one murder. The death sentence handed down by these courts was confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2006.^[1][2] After this ruling, Seema and Renuka filed mercy petitions in 2008 and 2009, respectively, which were rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee in 2014. Because of this delay in seeking a decision on their mercy petitions, the Bombay High Court ultimately commuted their death sentence to life imprisonment in 2022. The sisters currently remain lodged at Yerwada Jail in Pune.^[4][3] Had their original sentences been carried out, the sisters would have been the first women to be executed in India since 1955, and only the second overall.^[1][5]