GUWAHATI: A man in Assam immersed his two-and half-year-old daughter at a river “at the call of God”.
The body was retrieved a day later by the police and the State Disaster Response Force. The incident took place at Lahapara in Lower Assam’s Baksa district.
The police said Birbal Bodo had been ill for the past 15-20 days and he committed the crime to get relief from his illness. He was arrested by the police based on an FIR filed by his wife.
The accused had gone out with the baby for a walk on Friday. His family members were alarmed when he returned home without her. Later, he told them that he had immersed her in the river.
There are reports that the accused, who has two other children, visited a quack and the latter had advised him to immerse the minor to get relief from the “unknown” disease. The police expressed ignorance about it.
“We are interrogating him as well as his family members and villagers to find out possible third party involvement in the crime. If we find the involvement of any other, we are not going to spare him or her,” Baksa Superintendent of Police, Thube Prateek Vijay Kumar, told this newspaper.
He said the accused would be produced in a court following his medical examination which was under way.
“We will seek his remand so we can interrogate him further,” the SP said.
He said the police often conduct awareness campaigns, especially against witch-hunting which is common in Assam’s tea belt and Bodo-majority areas.
“Under Project Prahari which was initiated by our Director General Kula Saikia sir, we regularly create awareness among people against witch-hunting. We hold such campaigns also when we hear something like this may happen in some area,” Kumar said.
What has happened is really sad, he added.