A 35-year-old man chopped off his daughters’ ears in the early hours of Thursday at Shahdara’s GTB Enclave. The man, who was in an inebriated state, was allegedly hallucinating about ghosts at the time of the incident.
Amrit Bahadur, a resident of Tahirpur, came home around 1.30 a.m. in an inebriated state and started hallucinating about a ghost asking him to hurt his three-year-old daughter Bina, said the police.
“He told the police that a ghost asked him to make the girl cry or else it would take her away. He threw water on Bina, after which she started crying,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Nupur Prasad.
Amrit first cut off a part of her ear, as directed by the ghost, and then went onto chop her ears. “He said the ghost told him that Bina would die if he didn’t do as asked,” said Ms. Prasad.
Witnessing this, the family shouted for help and called the neighbours, who informed the police.
“The neighbours said Bina’s life was saved as a police team reached the spot just as the ‘ghost’ told Amrit to make her bleed from the throat,” said an officer.
The child was rushed to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital and later shifted to AIIMS, where she is undergoing treatment. “She is stable now,” said Ms. Prasad.
The family told the police that Amrit, a cleaner at a nearby restaurant who also cleans cars for a living, had been hallucinating for the past 10 days. They added that he was afraid as he had lost his 2-year-old daughter two months ago.
“She was unwell and died a natural death. He said the ghost told him it would take his second daughter as well unless he did as asked,” said the officer.
The 30-year-old was arrested on Thursday under Sections 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt of the) of the IPC and relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act.
Amrit had come to India from Nepal in 2000 in search of a job. He married his elder brother’s wife after his demise a few years ago.
