Parents adopt new methods to kill baby girls

Jaisalmer, June 19: The father of a baby girl, who died in suspicious circumstances, was arrested and sent to judicial custody for 15 days. Police claim that Deen Singh alias Dileep Singh, the father of the girl, deliberately denied her treatment, which led to her death.

According to the local medical authorities, members of some communities, infamous for killing baby girls, have now found a new way to make the deaths look 'natural'. The baby girls are either not fed enough or denied treatment. The authorities came across three such cases in Tejmalta and Mandi villages of the district during the last 10 days.

On Friday, Dileep Singh was arrested after his daughter, who was born on June 13, died in the absence of proper treatment. According to SP Mamta Vishnoi, SDM Fatehgarh has submitted a report to Sangad police station in this regard, following which a case was registered and action was taken. A special team recovered the body of the baby for post-mortem.

Vishnoi said investigation into the case revealed that Singh did not make any efforts to save the child. "During the investigation, contradictory information came to light pointing that Singh was completely careless towards his daughter. He was arrested on Friday and sent to judicial custody on Saturday,'' added Vishnoi.

In last 10 days, three newborn girls died suspiciously in the area. According to reports, Keku Kanwar delivered a healthy baby at Tejmalta on June 8 but was brought to the Jhinjhinyali primary health centre in serious condition the next day. The baby did not survive. On the same day, the death of yet another baby girl was reported, following which the entire family is missing.

District collector Shuchi Tyagi accepted the fact that some people are deliberately resorting to inhuman methods in order to save themselves from the law. Tyagi said it is a planned conspiracy and of the three recent cases, the newborns were buried in the backyard of the house. They also use chemical or salt so that body gets destroyed quickly. "The reasons could not be found in the post-mortem. Therefore, viscera has been sent to FSL for investigation and after the report comes, the reasons of death would be known. We are also talking to experts about what can be done to avoid such incidents,'' she said.