A horrific incident in which a mother strangled her fourth newborn daughter to death has been reported from the Belagavi district of Karnataka on Tuesday, officials said.
Police investigations have revealed that the mother committed the crime because she was distraught over not having a son.
The incident occurred in Hiremulangi village of Ramdurg taluk in Belagavi district.
According to the police, the mother strangled her three-day-old infant daughter solely because another girl child was born.
The accused, identified as Ashwini Halkatti, has been arrested, and a murder case has been registered against her at the Sureban Police Station.
Police said that accused mother Ashwini Halkatti, a resident of Hiremulangi, already has three daughters and was hoping for a male child.
However, on November 23, she delivered another infant girl at the Mudakavi Primary Health Centre.
She returned to her parental home in Hiremulangi the following day.
On Tuesday morning, when her mother stepped out of the house, Ashwini allegedly strangled the newborn to death.
She later pretended that the infant was not breathing and created a scene, police said.
The infant was rushed to Ramdurg Taluk Hospital, where doctors confirmed that she had died due to strangulation and suffocation.
During questioning, the accused mother confessed to the horrific act.
Because Ashwini recently gave birth to a child, she is being treated under police supervision at the Ramdurg Government Hospital.
Ramdurg Deputy Superintendent of Police, Chidambara Madivalar, visited the spot and conducted an inspection.
Further investigation is underway and more details are yet to emerge.
On February 29, 2024, in a shocking incident, a father threw his own child onto a wall at his residence in Dharwad district.
The seven-month-old girl child, Vaishanavi, succumbed to injuries at the KIMS hospital in Hubbali.
The incident was reported in Yadwad village of Dharwad district.
The accused Shambulinga Shahapurmath, 37, who was arrested soon after the incident, has been booked under IPC Section 302 for murder.
The accused's father has reportedly told the police officials that he was unhappy after his daughter was born.
The deceased, Vaishanavi, was his second child.
The Karnataka government had earlier expressed concern about a declining female-to-male sex ratio, which Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao partly attributed to organised foeticide rackets.
Minister Gundu Rao had earlier said in the state Assembly that Karnataka has registered eight cases related to female foeticide since the start of 2023-24, leading to the arrest of 46 individuals.
To prevent female foeticide, the state government has established statutory committees under the PC and PNDT Act (Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act) at both the state and district levels.
As of now, 136 cases have been filed in court against scanning centres, owners, and doctors for violating the PC & PNDT Act.
Of these, 74 cases have resulted in penalties and closure, while 65 cases are at various stages in court, Minister Rao had said.
(With inputs from IANS)
