CHENNAI: A 25-year-old woman allegedly killed her newborn girl by banging her head on the floor since her husband censured her for giving birth to a girl child for the second time. Police said the woman feared that her husband would desert her as he had been picking up fights with her since the delivery of the second girl child a month ago.
Police said they arrested Celestine on Wednesday after the autopsy report showed that the child had died of severe head injuries on November 12, not because of mere breathlessness as Celestine had claimed.
Celestine was married to Sathyaraj, 32, a daily wager. They lived at Kasimedu along with their one-and-a half year old daughter. Already critical of her for having a girl child, it is said that Sathyaraj started picking up fights after the second child also turned out to be a girl.
“On November 12, when she was alone at home she allegedly banged the baby’s head on the floor twice and the baby had difficulty in breathing. She informed her mother and they took the baby to a hospital where doctors found that the child had already succumbed,” said a police officer involved in the investigations.
However, police suspected Celestine’s theory since there were injury marks on the child’s head. “We were waiting for the autopsy report. On Wednesday the report showed that the child died of the head injuries,” said the officer. On interrogation, the mother confessed to have killed the child because of the pressure exerted by her husband. She told the police she decided to do so since her husband may have deserted her over the issue.