Hyderabad: One more newborn girl has fallen prey to the boy craze of her parents in Nalgonda. Jayaram had threatened his wife Nagamani that he will go for a second marriage after she gave birth to a third daughter. Worried over this, Nagamani killed her newborn daughter. Police arrested the couple.
Police said that Ramavath Jayaram and Nagamani from Padamati Tanda in Pedda Adisarapalli got married five years ago. Nagamani gave birth to girls in her first two deliveries. Around a month ago, she delivered a girl again, and her husband Jayaram became angry.
On February 4, he threatened to leave her and marry another woman to have a male child. At night when he went to his field to keep watch, Nagamani collected some milk, mixed it with pesticide and gave it to the child.
After drinking the milk the child became unconscious. To avoid suspicion, she and her husband took the child to Devarakonda Govern-ment Hospital. The doctors who treated her declared her dead, and said an autopsy must be conducted to find the cause of death.
When the couple refused permission for autopsy, doctors grew suspicious and alerted Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) officials, who filed a complaint with the police.
The police found the child was their third daughter, and that the couple had killed the child as they wanted a male child. Jayaram and Nagamani were arrested and remanded to custody.
In January, a six-day-old girl also died under suspicious circumstances in the Polyanayak Tanda of Chandampet mandal in Nalgonda district. Though the child was healthy she died suddenly. Her parents claimed that she had died of ill health and buried her in a hurry. Suspecting infanticide, a case was registered.
