MALAPPURAM: An adivasi mother allegedly killed and buried her a newborn baby in what appears to be a horrific honour killing of sorts at Chaliyar panchayat, in Nilamnur, near here on Tuesday.
The infant girl was found buried adjacent to her house after the police launched an investigation into the incident. It was just two days ago that the woman had returned home from hospital after giving birth to a baby girl.
Police said the mother, who fell pregnant while living alone in her house after being widowed two years ago, wanted to cover up incident. She was afraid of bringing shame and insult to her family through an adulterous pregnancy.
In an failed attempt to cover up the shame, the mother first killed the baby and then buried her in a pit near her house when she reached home from hospital, the police said.
It was the neighbours, who grew suspicious of the woman after the infant has not been seen in the house for over a week, who reported the incident to the police.
Police said it was a suspected incident of honour killing by the mother who had feared public wrath and shame when she gave birth to baby from an adulterous relationship.
The postmortem of the baby will be carried out later on the day.