Death for being a girl: Father strangulates 3-yr-old daughter in Jharkhand

Dhanbad: In yet another case of gender discrimination, a three-year-old girl was strangulated in her sleep by her father in Dhanbad district for being born a girl.

A police officer said on Tuesday that the incident occurred at Kurkuri village in the wee hours on Monday night.

After receiving a complaint from the girl's relatives, Nirsa police station in-charge Parmeswer Prasad reached the village and recovered the body and sent it for postmortem at Patliputra Medical College Hospital (PMCH,) Dhanbad.

A police team has been sent to Maniyadih village to arrest the father, he told newsmen.

The father, Shankar Ray, resident of Maniyadih village under Tundi block, visited his in-laws house where his wife was staying with the child on April 29, the officer said.

On Monday night, he affectionately asked his daughter to sleep beside him in the courtyard and strangled her in her sleep, police said.

Right from the day of her birth, he had been trying to kill her as she was a baby girl. For the safety of the girl, I deserted my in-law's house and have been living with my younger brother for last three years as both my parents have passed away", said the sobbing child's mother, Jyotsna (20).

Shankar and Jyotsna's marriage was solemnised in 2011. After the birth of his daughter, Shankar became disillusioned with his wife for bearing a girl child.

However, he continued to visit her at her brother's place, Jyotsna's relatives told newsmen.

They said Shankar, a farmer by profession, decided to commit filicide when he learnt that Jyotsna was expecting again and feared that she would again give birth to a girl child.