Pregnant Woman Held For 'Murdering' 3-Year-Old Stepson

A pregnant woman has been arrested for allegedly murdering her 3-year-old stepson. According to the child’s paternal grandfather, his daughter-in-law “disliked” the boy from her husband's first marriage and “used to beat him often.”

The incident happened on June 17 in the Indian state of Punjab. Police have registered a murder case against Amarjit Kaur, who is eight months pregnant.

The toddler's grandfather Resham Singh, who lives in a separate house, claimed that Kaur used to beat her stepson regularly and that he was in poor health, The Indian Express reported.

On June 17, Kaur's neighbor reportedly noticed the child's condition getting worse and informed Resham Singh about it. When he went to check on his grandson at Kaur's residence, the child had already died, Hindustan Herald reported.

The toddler's father, Sukhdev Singh, was away at the time of the incident. Based on the child's grandfather's complaint, police have started an investigation.

During interrogation, Kaur reportedly admitted that she had slapped the child several times after which he “banged into a wall.”

“We are investigating the case. The child used to keep unwell and sometimes he would defecate/urinate on the bed which used to irritate the woman," Iqbal Singh, the case’s investigating officer, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

The police have not determined the exact cause of death as they are awaiting an autopsy report.

The boy’s grandfather claimed that one probable reason for Kaur “disliking” the child was that he was planning to transfer his house (in which the accused lived) in the name of the boy. "The property angle being claimed by grandfather is still under probe," the police officer added.

Last month, a mother from North Carolina was arrested for the death of her 4-year-old daughter after police recovered the child's remains from her backyard.

Malikah Bennett was accused of killing her daughter by punishing her to stand for three days until she fell due to exhaustion and hit her head on the ground. After reportedly hiding the victim's body in plastic bags for five days, she forced her teen daughter to help her bury the remains in the backyard.

Bennett was charged with first-degree murder, felony child abuse, inflicting physical injury, and felony concealing a death.