Father Strangles 2-Year-Old Child To Death, Hands Over Corpse To Elder Daughter

In a horrific incident, a father in India strangled his 2-year-old child to death and handed over the body to his elder daughter.

The incident took place in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The man was arrested after his wife filed a complaint against her husband saying he killed their daughter, media outlet Mid-Day reported.

The police reports revealed the accused, who was an alcoholic, used to physically abuse his wife due to which she left him and went to stay with her father along with her three children.

On Sunday, the accused, identified as Ramesh, visited his wife after learning one of his daughters were sick. He took the unwell daughter along with the two other children. The following day, the elder daughter returned home carrying the body of her 2-year-old sister, who was identified as Shreya.

The elder daughter, Kajal, told the police her father took the children to several places before reaching an orchard to sleep at night. Ramesh then strangled Shreya to death with Kajal's scarf. Kajal, who woke up hearing her sister's cries, was handed over the body by her father, she told the police.

While the motive behind the killing remains unknown, Kajal told the police her father used to say that Shreya was not his daughter, Mid-Day reported.

When Kajal arrived in her village with her sister's corpse, the neighbors got hold of the accused and thrashed him before handing him over to police.

"The accused Ramesh has been arrested and booked under Sections 302 (murder) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation) IPC and the body has been sent for post mortem (autopsy)," a senior police officer said, Mid-Day reported.

Last week, the police arrested a man after he brutally beat his 9-year-old daughter for intervening in a fight between him and his wife. The incident took place in Bengaluru, an Indian city in the southern state of Karnataka. Reports said at the time the 42-year-old man arrived home drunk and picked up a fight with his wife at their residence. The child saw her parents fighting and tried to intervene.

This infuriated her father who allegedly hit the minor girl and verbally abused her. The child was rushed to a hospital where she was treated for her injuries. Police arrested the accused and booked him under sections 324 (assault using dangerous weapons), 506 (criminal intimidation and 509 (words or gestures to outrage the modesty of women) and relevant sections of the Juvenile Justice Act.