Mumbai: A 26-year-old woman was arrested Sunday morning for killing her one-and-a-half-year-old stepdaughter. The woman had rammed the child’s head against the wall, as she was irritated by her crying.
According to police officials, the woman has been identified as Rajiya Shaikh. Rajiya is the second wife of Abdul Shaikh and had got married to him a year ago.
Abdul, who has two children from his first marriage, a girl and a boy, had decided to divorce his first wife. His first wife left to stay with her parents, leaving behind her two children at Abdul’s place.
“Abdul has his own catering business in Chembur, and is always busy with work. While he worked, his second wife Rajiya had to look after his two children and was not pleased to do so. She would sometimes leave them alone at home with no food to eat and visit relatives,” said a police official.
On Saturday, Abdul’s one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Rajiya was crying as she was unwell. She refused to eat food. “Her stepmother, who wanted to sleep, tried hard to stop her bawling. Rajiya then gave the child some toys to play with but she threw them away. The irate woman then banged the child’s head on the wall two or three times to stop her cries. The child became unconscious. Rajiya immediately took her to a nearby hospital, but during treatment the child was declared dead,” said the police officer.
The police then arrested Rajiya after the postmortem report that stated the cause of death as head injuries. Rajiya then confessed to the crime.
(This story originally appeared in the Asian Age)
