Newborn Baby's Body Exhumed For Autopsy After Police Suspect Infanticide

The body of a newborn baby girl in India was exhumed Wednesday after the police suspected the child may have been a victim of female infanticide.

The child was buried Tuesday in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. According to the police, 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 police said, media outlet DT Next reported.

Kasthuri was then staying at her mother's house. On Tuesday, the child died and the family, without informing authorities, buried the baby. Neighbors speculated the child may have been a victim of infanticide as the couple already has two daughters. They said the family was desperate for a boy, but were upset after it turned out to be a girl.

After receiving a report about the child's burial, Erumapatti Taluk Medical Officer and officials visited Kasthuri's house and asked them about the baby's cause of death, the New Indian Express reported. The family members claimed the baby died unexpectedly due to some illness.

The health officials were not convinced by the answers, following which they lodged a police complaint to investigate the child's death.

On Wednesday, the police exhumed the child's body in the presence of revenue officials for an autopsy. The body of the child was buried after the test was conducted, DT Next reported. The police are awaiting the result of the autopsy to determine the cause of death.

The State of World Population 2020 report released last year by the United Nations Population Fund, the world organization’s sexual and reproductive health agency, stated India has the highest rate of female deaths -- 13.5 per 1,000 female births. The number suggests an estimated one in nine deaths of females below the age of five is linked to postnatal sex selection.

In a similar incident in the state in February, a 7-day-old baby was killed by her grandmother as the family wanted a boy child. The child was brought to a government hospital by C. Sivapriya, where she was declared dead. A woman officer at the hospital registered a case of suspicious death after she noticed a nail mark on the infant’s face. An autopsy confirmed the child had been murdered. The police later arrested the child's grandmother, the Hindu reported at the time.

The baby's parents, Sivapriya and Chinnasamy, have two daughters. “It seems the infant was smothered to death. During interrogation, Chinnasamy’s mother confessed to the crime. The parents are being interrogated to ascertain if they had any role in it,” Additional Superintendent of Police (Crime against Women and Children) S. Vanitha said at the time.