Ranchi man killed infant as he did not want girl child: Police

A 35-year-old man allegedly strangulated his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter to death in Ranchi on Saturday because he did not want a girl child, police said.

According to police, Gautam Prasad Mahato, a resident of Mukchundtoli locality in Chutia police station area, was an alcoholic and had earlier too assaulted his family members.

SSP, Ranchi, Surendra Kumar Jha said, “The father has been arrested and booked for murdering his daughter.”

The FIR has been lodged on the basis of a complaint by Mahato’s wife Babita Devi. She has stated that they married in 2014 and had two children. Ever since their daughter’s birth, her husband started behaving badly and assaulting Babita, she has said in the complaint. “He would say he never wanted a girl child. I would tolerate the violence in the hope that things would improve, but his atrocities started increasing,” she has stated.

According to the complaint, Mahato got agitated on Saturday morning when the baby started crying. “He started strangulating my daughter and she was choking. I tried my best to fight for my child, but I could not save her. She died on the spot, I somehow escaped and locked the doors and informed my brother in law,” stated the complaint.

Babita’s brother-in-law gathered more people and they informed police.

On Sunday, Babita, who has demanded “strictest action” against her husband, refused to speak as relatives consoled her.

Chutia Police Station Incharge Ravi Thakur said local residents had told him that Mahato had admitted himself to a de-addiction centre, but went back to drinking. “As of now we believe that he did not want girl child and that was the motive of the murder. He has beaten his mother and brother in the past. He used to work with a builder and ran his own lodge.”

A few days ago, a man in Lohardaga allegedly slit his six-year-old daughter’s throat at the behest of a self-styled godman as he wanted a son.