Gender-biased Chennai man stabs 1-week-old daughter to death; held

CHENNAI: Chennai police arrested a 38-year-old man on Wednesday for allegedly stabbing his nine-day-old daughter to death with a pair of scissors. The Vyasarpadi police said the man was upset that his third child, born on June 29, was a girl. He already has two daughters, aged 4 and two-and-a-half.

According to the police, the arrested man was identified as Rajkumar (38), a daily wage labourer. On July 7, Rajkumar told his wife that their newborn child had developed a medical complication and her intestine had burst. The infant was taken to a government hospital where she was admitted and died on July 9.

The body was handed over to the parents after autopsy. However, the postmortem report said the injury suffered by the child was caused by a sharp object. Following that the police conducted an inquiry and questioned Rajkumar who confessed to stabbing the child with scissors since he was unhappy that his wife had again delivered a girl. Rajkumar was arrested and remanded in judicial custody on Wednesday.

Speaking to DT Next, AD Revathy, a former member of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (TNCPCR), said: “It is alarming that such an incident has unfolded in the city. Also, this gruesome incident has exposed that seeing a girl child as a burden to the family persists.”

Revathy, pointing out the recent incident of child marriage reported in Mylapore, noted, “The laws and regulations need strict implementation. Besides, addressing the psychological barrier towards having a girl child, government and police should strictly implement the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.”