Woman held for dropping month-old daughter into water tank. She wanted a son

A 21-year-old woman was arrested in Bhopal on Friday for allegedly killing her one-month-old daughter since she wanted a male child, according to the police.

The woman, Sarita Mewada, a resident of Dehriya Khajoori village of the district was arrested under Section 302 (murder) of IPC after the police found inconsistencies in her statements. She confessed to the crime later, the police said.

Deputy inspector general (DIG) of police, Bhopal, Irshad Wali said, “The father of the baby, Sachin Mewada, lodged a complaint with the Khajoori police station on Thursday about his daughter reported missing from inside his house. A police team recovered the body of the baby from inside a 500 litre water tank kept inside a room of the complainant’s house with the lid shut from the top.”

“During the investigation police got to know that the child and her mother Sarita were alone in the house when the child was reported missing by the mother,” he added.

Police interrogated Sarita Mewada and she confessed to having committed the crime.

The DIG said, “In her statement given to the police, Sarita said she married Sachin Mewada a year ago. In August, she gave birth to a girl child but she was not happy as she wanted a boy. Sarita said her in-laws were also unhappy over the birth of the girl child. On Thursday, the baby was crying when she got upset and dropped her in the water tank. Then, she closed the lid of the tank.”

The woman was produced before the district court from where she was sent to jail under judicial remand.