Man buries 17-day-old daughter alive, arrested

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Villupuram (Tamil Nadu): A 29-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday for burying his 17-day-old daughter alive on the Thenpennai riverbed at Athandamaruthur village in Tamil Nadu. A report in the The Times Of India, the accused, identified as D Varadarajan, a farmer, was disappointed when his wife Soundarya gave birth to a girl at a hospital in Puducherry.

According to the police, Varadarajan had earlier attempted to kill the child when she was three days old, but was stopped by his relatives. On early Tuesday morning when Soundarya was asleep with the newborn after feeding her, Varadarajan took the child 500 metres away from their house to the riverbed near Thenpennai, dug a pit and buried her alive. When Soundarya woke up at 4 am to find the infant missing, she screamed for help.

When Varadarajan confessed to committing the crime, his relatives and villagers informed the Tirukovillur police. The body of the infant was exhumed before the police and revenue officials. Varadrajan told the police that he was confident that his wife will give birth to a son and had told his relatives that if he has a daughter, he may not keep her.

He has been charged with murder under section 302 and section 315 (act done to prevent a child to be born alive to cause to it die after birth) and section 498A (women being subjected to cruelty by husband or relative of a husband). Further investigation is underway.

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