A mother has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of her two-month-old daughter in what was described as a “sudden fit of rage.”
Thirty-one-year-old Zara Arsalan, who also goes by the name Sharandeep Talwandi, violently shook her baby, Harleen Bains, and repeatedly struck her head against a table after losing her temper at their home in the Black Country on July 23, 2020.
The brutal attack lasted only seconds but inflicted devastating injuries on the infant, including a fractured skull and severe brain damage.
Despite the evidence, Arsalan attempted to mislead investigators by portraying her daughter’s death as a “tragic accident.”
This week, she was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 19 years, by the court.
During sentencing at Coventry Crown Court, Mr. Justice Cavanagh KC expressed sorrow that little Harleen was denied the opportunity for what should have been a long and joyful life.
‘The death of a child at this young age is a tragedy,’ he said. ‘I’m sure that you (Arsalan) had no intent to harm Harleen until the very moment you did do. You acted in a sudden fit of rage.
‘The violence was ferocious. Tiny though she was, the pain and fear Harleen would have suffered will have been truly terrible.
Zara Arsalan, 31, shook Harleen Bains vigorously and repeatedly banged her head on a table after ‘losing her temper’ with the defenceless baby at their Black Country home on July 23, 2020
‘In this case, not only did you shake Harleen with extreme force but you also hit her head with great force against a hard surface a number of times.
‘No one could have done this to a tiny and fragile baby without appreciating that there was a real prospect that it would lead to her death, not just injury.
‘I’m sure, therefore, that you did not care if you killed her or not.’
It was heard that Arsalan lived with her daughter and Harleen’s father, Jatinder Bains, at a property in West Bromwich, near Birmingham.
But Arsalan and Mr Bains’s relationship had become ‘stormy’ in the weeks before the baby’s death, around two years after they first got together.
Between three and six days before her passing, Harleen suffered a rib fracture caused by her mother’s ‘rough handling’ during a loss of temper.
It was heard that Arsalan had been finding motherhood a ‘struggle’, but was said to have had a ‘good mother and baby bond’.
The judge added: ‘Harleen would have screamed or cried loudly for some minutes after you did this to her so you would have realised that you had hurt her.
‘You knew, by that stage, that you were at risk of harming Harleen but you did not seek help or support.’
Mr Bains dialled 999 on July 23, minutes after his baby suffered injuries at the hands of Arsalan.
Harleen died the next day due to a brain injury which caused ‘catastrophic and irreversible damage’. She also sustained multiple blunt force blows to her head, a broken collarbone, a fracture to her left leg and injury to her spine.
Medical evidence indicated that she had been held ‘very tightly and roughly’, causing ‘oscillation’ of her head and neck.
This would have been ‘far outside the range of normal handling’, the court heard.
Mr Justice Cavanagh KC said: ‘The person doing it would have had no doubt that it would have caused injury to their child.’
Harleen’s head was banged ‘very hard’ against the floor ‘three or four times’, the judge added. The level of force used would have been ‘exceptionally severe’.
Mr Justice Cavanagh KC said he believed the ‘trigger’ for the violence was that ‘Harleen would not stop crying’ and Arsalan was ‘tired and stressed’.
The judge added: ‘It’s absolutely clear that you lost your temper with her.’
The court heard that Mr Bains, 31, died by suicide in August 2022.
Arsalan – who was 25 at the time of Harleen’s death and had no previous convictions – gave ‘conflicting and untruthful’ accounts to police about what had happened to her daughter.
In 2020, she claimed that Harleen had ‘wriggled’ out of her arms and onto the floor as she changed her.
When she was interviewed in 2022 after hearing of Mr Bains’ death she lied once again – insisting that Mr Bains had assaulted both her and Harleen.
Mr Justice Cavanagh KC said: ‘This was a false narrative, designed to throw blame upon Mr Bains.’
He went on: ‘There is no suggestion that Arsalan and Mr Bains were jointly responsible for the assault on Harleen.’
