2-Month-Old Poisoned To Death As Parents Didn't Want Another Baby Girl

In a horrific incident, a 2-month-old baby was killed by her parents in the Indian state of Maharashtra. According to local reports, the girl child was poisoned by the couple who reportedly was unhappy about having another female child.

Prakash Padave, 28, and Jayashree Padave, 21, residents of Savardi village of Shauwadi Tehsil in Kolhapur, were arrested Wednesday by local police and produced in the court. The court sent them to police custody until Dec. 15 after details about the incident emerged.

Local media Times Now reported that the couple, who already have a 2-year-old daughter, was allegedly upset about having a second girl child and decided to kill the infant.

After feeding the child poison, the couple rushed the baby to a private hospital where she was declared dead. The doctors were suspicious about the incident and decided to conduct an autopsy. The report revealed that the 2-month-old was poisoned.

The incident took place in early October but police arrested the parents Wednesday after they received the medical reports. While questioning, the couple admitted to mixing poison in the food to kill the baby girl since they did not want another girl in the family.

Female infanticide is not uncommon in India. Earlier this year, the United Nations declared India to be the world’s most dangerous place for girls, until the age of five. A new UN study found girl mortality rate is 75 percent higher than that of boys in the Asian nation.

In India, sons are believed to be those who can continue the family name, earn money, support their parents in old age, conduct funeral rites, whereas girls have a marginal social and economic position. When girls marry into another family, the parents feel burdened to pay dowry, which is still practiced in many parts of India despite being illegal.