Dad Shoots Newborn Daughter 5 Times Because He Wanted A Boy: Police

A man in Pakistan's Punjab province killed his newborn daughter last weekend because he wanted his firstborn to be a boy, according to police.

Shahzeb Khan fatally shot his 7-day-old daughter, Jannat Fatima, five times in the city of Mianwali Sunday, newspaper Arab News reported, citing authorities.

"The police were told by the complainants that the killer had been complaining for three or four days that he had wanted a son and he had been very angry," Mianwali police spokesman Zarrar Khan was quoted as saying by the outlet.

The man's wife also confirmed that "he was angry about having a daughter and wanted a son," according to police.

Khan, who was arrested Wednesday, was in sync with the mores of a society that considered having a baby girl or becoming the father of a girl "a great humiliation," a report by The Express Tribune said.

Pakistan is a deeply patriarchal country, and sons are often believed to offer better financial security to parents than daughters, according to Arab News.

Jannat's body has since been taken by her maternal grandparents to Iskandarabad, where her funeral prayers were offered.

Nasrullah Khan, Jannat's maternal grandfather, said he will become the plaintiff in a case over the incident.

"We will never forgive our son-in-law at any cost. We will punish him severely," he said.

In a similar incident in July last year, a man in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh allegedly killed one of his daughters and critically injured another during an argument with his wife for not giving birth to a boy.

The man, identified as K. Prasad from Vishakhapatnam, had a fight with his wife, Lakshmi, on July 9, 2021, as she had not delivered a baby boy in their six years of marriage.

He banged his two daughters' heads against a wall at their home in a fit of rage during the encounter, killing the youngest, K. Pravani, 2, and injuring the girl's elder sister, K. Siri, 4.

Prasad fled the scene, and Pravani was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Siri, who was in stable condition, underwent treatment, according to police.

Authorities later registered a case against Prasad based on a complaint filed by Lakshmi.