JOIN USThe lower court on Friday sentenced a father to death for killing his own one month old daughter, as he disliked her. The court also sentenced his wife, mother of the baby, to one year’s imprisonment, for abetting the crime.
The judgment is expected to go a long way in Andhra Pradesh, where there is a traditional disparity against the girl child. Hundreds of female babies are alleged to be either killed in birth or later and also sold away by the backward and tribal communities.
After three years of their wedding, the couple, residents of Tatechetlapalem colony in the port city of Visakhapatnam, was blessed with a girl child, in October 2010, and since then they were unhappy with their first issue.
The police said Arun Kumar had strangled his baby to death while she was asleep on 29 November 2010 and later buried the dead baby under sand, at the local sea beach. The couple had later spread the word that their baby was stolen while they were asleep at their home, and also filed a police complaint to justify their claim.
However, during police investigations Arun Kumar confessed to killing his baby as it was a girl child. He also admitted that he disliked female babies. The police exhumed the body of the dead baby for post mortem.