Sixth child also girl, Guj man kills 4-day-old baby

AHMEDABAD: A 32-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly stabbing his four-day-old baby girl, his sixth daughter, in Gandhinagar district of Gujarat as he wanted a son, police said on Monday, in a state where female infanticide is common and reflected in its skewed sex ratio.

The police in Moti Masang village under Dehgam taluka arrested Vishnu Rathod after a complaint was filed by his father-in-law Jaswant Jetsinh.

“It was the sixth daughter for 30-year-old Vimla and Vishnu. Married for about 10 years, the couple has five other daughters,’’ a police official said on the condition of anonymity.

Jetsinh said in his complaint that Vishnu stabbed the newborn on Sunday evening soon after he saw her for the first time while visiting Vimla, who had gone to her parents’ house for the delivery.

Vimla was asleep when Vishnu stabbed the baby and woke up after hearing her cries, police officials said. Vishnu tried to run away but his in-laws caught him and handed him over to the police.

Police said their investigation has so far revealed that Vishnu “did not intend to kill the child”. Although he wanted a son, the couple had been taking good care of the daughters.

“Rathod was carrying ghee and some grain for his wife and the newborn as the two were going to stay there for some time. But when he saw the baby girl, he got so angry he tried to harm her. He always carried a sickle-type small knife and tried to make a small cut on the abdomen but it proved fatal,” investigating officer VB Desai said.

According to the post-mortem report, the child’s kidney and intestine had come out.

There are 919 females against 1,000 males in Gujarat.

According to a report by the NITI Aayog, the government think tank, released this year, the sex ratio at birth of 848 in 2014-16 was one of the lowest ever recorded by Gujarat since 2005-07, when the number of girls born was 891 per 1,000 boys. AURANGABAD: A woman has been arrested for allegedly killing her 10-month-old son as she wanted a daughter, police said on Monday.

The child, Prem Parameshwar Erande, had allegedly gone missing from the house in Paithankheda village of Paithan tehsil in Aurangabad district early on Sunday, police said. The woman, Vedika Erande, had filed a complaint with the police following her son’s disappearance, saying she feared her child had possibly been abducted.

“A police canine, on Sunday evening, zeroed in on the child lying dead inside a drum filled with water in the verandah of Vedika’s house,” assistant inspector Pandit Sonawane of Bidkin police station said.

“Since the death looked suspicious, we questioned Vedika and another relative. The accused’s answers were unconvincing,” Sonawane said.

“It was revealed during questioning that Vedika killed the 10-month-old Prem. She told us that she already has an elder son and was expecting a daughter when she was pregnant with Prem. This is the reason behind her committing this act, she has told us,” Sonawane added.

The police have charged the woman under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code.