Mother Tosses 11-Day-Old Baby Into Well As She 'Disliked Boys'; Infant Dies

A woman in India has been arrested for murdering her infant son by throwing him into a well. She reportedly told her family that she disliked boys and did not want the child.

The horrific incident happened in a village near Mangaluru, a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, on Saturday. The woman, identified only by her first name Pavithra, was arrested on charges of murder after police received a complaint from her sister-in-law, who witnessed the incident, the Times of India reported.

Pavithra got divorced after her first marriage and married another man, identified as Manikanta, last year. After two months, she became pregnant and came back to her home from her husband's house. Pavithra reportedly kept saying she wanted a baby girl and that she disliked boys, news outlet APN Live reported.

The woman, who delivered the baby on Oct. 19, was reportedly upset it was not a girl. She refused to even breastfeed the infant, the sister-in-law said in the complaint.

On the day of the murder, Pavithra told her family that she does not want the baby and went back to sleep. In the afternoon, she came out of her room carrying the infant in her hand and told the sister-in-law that she did not like the baby. She then walked toward a well in front of their house and threw the child inside, said Rishikesh Sonawane, a senior investigating officer.

The sister-in-law alerted other family members, who then brought the baby out of the well and transported him to a hospital. However, the child was pronounced dead at the hospital.

In a similar incident, a woman in India was arrested last year after she allegedly threw her 18-day-old baby into a river following a dispute with her husband. The incident came to light after the suspect, 39-year-old Sahin Shaikh, from the western Indian state of Gujarat approached cops claiming her infant was kidnapped. However, Shaikh, who changed her statements several times, eventually admitted to the murder.