Bihar mother kills 6-day-old baby girl by dumping her in toilet tank

A woman in Bihar so vehemently hated the idea of having to raise a second daughter that she killed the six-day-old infant girl by dumping her in the safety tank of her toilet.
Image used for representational purpose
Image used for representational purpose

PATNA: In a shocking incident, a woman in Bihar so vehemently hated the idea of having to raise a second daughter that she killed the six-day-old infant girl by dumping her in the safety tank of her toilet.

The incident in the central Bihar district of Samastipur heightened worries for the state as it faces a rapidly declining sex ratio. Police took the woman, Pinky Devi, into custody and said though she denied that she killed her six-day-old second daughter, there is enough circumstantial evidence to prove it she did so.

“She was very unhappy when a second daughter was born to her. So on the day of the newborn’s Chhathi (traditional sixth-day ritual), she killed her brutally,” said Samastipur SP Nawal Kishore Singh, describing the incident that took place on Saturday.

When Pinky Devi’s family was engaged in planning to celebrate the newborn girl’s Chhathi rituals in the night, the woman’s mother-in-law was astonished to find the newborn nowhere in the house, said police. When the old woman asked Pinky Devi where the “new girl” is, she casually said she must be somewhere in the house. But when a search around the house did not lead to the infant’s finding and the old woman insisted for an answer, Pinky Devi reportedly said that some animal light have taken her away.

The family then looked for the infant everywhere in the village, Ranitol under Mufassil police station, but failed to trace her. Meanwhile, the mother-in-law got suspicious by seeing Pinky Devi visiting the toilet in the house unusually frequently. Seeing the lid of the toilet tank kept out of its normal manner raised her suspicion and a look at the tank led to the finding of the infant’s body there.

“Pinky Devi seems to have first killed the infant and then dumped the body in the toilet tank to avert attention. She did it when the entire family had gone out to the local marketplace to buy necessities for the Chhathi ritual,” said the SP.

“The accused has denied that she killed the infant. If her mother-in-law also denies the charge, we will ensure that a case is made out on the basis of circumstantial evidence,” he added.

Bihar’s sex ratio fell from 924 in 2013 to 868 in 2014, according to figures released recently by Civil Registration System (CRS). The sex ratio in the state’s urban areas, assumed to be more literate, remains poorer than that in the rural belt. Capital Patna figures among the top five poorly performing districts in the state.

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