The Madurai police, on Sunday, arrested a 35-year-old man and his mother for killing the man’s four-day-old daughter.
According to reports, Dhavamani and Chithra lived in Sholavandan in the outskirts of Madurai. Chithra had, last week, given birth to a baby girl, who was the fourth daughter of the couple. The infant died on Thursday and the parents had told their neighbours that she died of an illness.
However, the neighbours raised suspicion over the sudden death of a baby and alerted the Village Administrative Officer (VAO) about the issue. The VAO reported to the police, who exhumed the body of the baby on Saturday and took the parents and grandmother Pandiammal (60) of the infant into custody.
During the inquiry, Dhavamani allegedly confessed to the crime and stated that he and his mother had killed the infant by administering her with a herbal concoction when the child’s mother was away. The mother did not have a role in the crime, according to Dhavamani.
He also stated that he had called the village nurse on Thursday after administering the concoction to his infant and ten minutes later, he called the nurse back again telling that the child died even before he could take her to the hospital.
This is the third case of female infanticide reported from the district in the last two months. Earlier in March, a similar crime was recorded in Madurai district, in which a one-month-old girl child was killed by her own parents. Another case of suspected female infanticide was also reported from Sedapatti in Madurai, where a one-week-old girl child was killed by her parents and buried in their backyard. The child was the third daughter of the couple. The parents had told the police that the infant had died due to choking while she was being breastfed by her mother.