8-Year-Old Killed, 3-Month-Old Baby, Mother Rescued After Father Pushes Them All Into Well

A man in India pushed his wife and two daughters into a well after being angry over not having a male child.

The police in the state of Madhya Pradesh identified the accused as 42-year-old Raja Yadav. On Saturday, the man was bringing his wife from her home three months after she gave birth to their second child, a baby girl. The man stopped his bike near a well and pushed his wife, along with their 8-year-old and 3-month-old daughters, police officer Rajendra Singh told the Press Trust of India, cited by NDTV.

"The accused even threw stones at his wife as she struggled to come out of the well. His eight-year-old daughter died, while the woman and her three-month-old daughter were rescued by villagers who heard their cries," the police official said. "His wife has told police that Yadav was angry at her for giving birth to a daughter again as he wanted a son."

Authorities said the accused fled the scene after pushing his family into the well. Yadav has been charged with murder and attempt to murder. A search is currently underway for the accused, the police said, The Times of India reported.

In several parts of India, people still consider the birth of a girl child a burden. The State of World Population 2020 report released last year by the United Nations Population Fund stated India has the highest rate of female deaths -- 13.5 per 1,000 female births. An estimated one in nine deaths of females below the age of five is linked to postnatal sex selection.

In April, the police in the southern state of Tamil Nadu exhumed the body of a newborn girl after they suspected the baby was a victim of female infanticide. C. Kasthuri, 27, gave birth to a baby girl on April 4 at a hospital. A day after the delivery, Kasthuri and her husband, identified as 33-year-old Suriya, left the hospital without informing the doctors. The child later died, and the family buried her without informing anyone. Neighbors speculated the child may have been a victim of infanticide as the couple already has two daughters and they were desperate for a son.