A daily wage worker allegedly smothered his newborn daughter at Balehalli in Mudigere taluk recently, as he didn’t want one more girl child.
Narayana, the accused, allegedly killed the baby on February 22; the incident, however, came to light after his brother informed the police the next day. Alduru police, who registered the complaint filed by Narayana’s brother Umesh, arrested the accused on Friday.
Narayana married Shashikala a few years ago. The couple have three daughters and they wanted a boy.
The police said Shashikala gave birth to a girl on Wednesday, and within hours Narayan killed the baby.
The mother became unconscious after the delivery and she was taken to a hospital in Hassan, while Narayana’s brother Umesh, who resides in the neighbourhood, found the body of the child kept in a bag in the house. The police said the accused admitted to having committed the crimebecause he didn’t want another girl as he already had three daughters.
“It seems like a case of female infanticide. We have arrested tThe accused and he has been remanded in judicial custody,” K. Annamalai, Superintendent of Police, told The Hindu.
Shashikala had refused to go to hospital for the delivery.
An official of the Health and Family Welfare Department said Shashikala had refused to visit a hospital after learning about her pregnancy. “I visited her house many times and asked her to come to the hospital for check-up, but she refused. She did not take any medicine offered by the department. Residents of the village are also aware of how the officials made efforts to convince her to visit the hospital,” the official said.
Shashikala is now being treated in a hospital in Hassan. The post-mortem was conducted in Chikkamagaluru and the baby was laid to rest in the village on Thursday.
