Reports of girl children being killed due to gender preference, though shocking, are not uncommon in Madhya Pradesh or other parts of India.
However, in an equally deplorable incident, a man in Betul of Madhya Pradesh killed his newborn son, apparently because he wanted a daughter. The newborn boy was the third child of the accused, both the elder children being boys aged seven and five years.
The accused Anil Uikey, a resident of Bajarwada under Padhar police post, was reportedly in an inebriated condition when he strangled his 12-day-old son to death on Sunday evening. He was arrested by the Betul police on Monday.
Sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP), Betul, Shalini Parpe confirmed to THE WEEK that the accused had confessed to have killed his newborn son as he did not want a third child and if so, he wanted a daughter. Uikey his reportedly asked his wife Ruchika to undergo family planning operation after birth of their second son, but she did not do so.
Sources said that Uikey was upset over birth of third son and had been having altercations with his wife. On Sunday evening, under influence of liquor, Uikey started beating Ruchika. After a while, she went out of home to avoid the beating, leaving her newborn son behind. Then Uikey allegedly strangled the newborn baby and escaped from the spot.
The Padhar police reached the spot of incident immediately after getting the report of the crime, but could arrest Uikey only on Monday morning. A case under Section 302 has been registered against the accused and further probe is on.
According to the Crimes in India report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) , in the year 2022, a total 83 cases of infanticide (killing of children below 1 year of age) were reported in the country, of which 11 were in Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, 104 children were killed before being born (foeticide) in the country, five among them in Madhya Pradesh. Though the gender breakup of these cases is not provided in the NCRB report, in most of these cases, the victims are girls.
