Woman kills daughter to marry lover in northwest Delhi

Police said on Thursday evening, the Deep Chand Bandhu hospital reported a girl who was brought dead to the facility

The Delhi Police have arrested a 27-year-old woman from Wazirabad village in northwest Delhi on charges of strangulating her five-year-old daughter, allegedly after the family of her boyfriend — to whom she planned to get married — refused to take care of the child, officers said on Saturday.

Police are also interrogating the woman’s boyfriend. (File Photo)

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Abhishek Dhania said the girl was killed on Thursday, adding that they registered a murder case at the Ashok Viharpolice station.

A probe into the girl’s death also revealed that she was raped multiple times in Himachal Pradesh, where she lived with her mother before moving to Delhi around 10 days ago, officers said, adding that they have registered a separate case on charges of rape and under sections of the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.

Police are also interrogating the woman’s boyfriend.

Sharing details, officers said on Thursday evening, the Deep Chand Bandhu hospital informed police about a girl who was brought dead to the facility. “When police reached the spot, doctors told them that the child had strangulation marks on her neck. A case was registered and the body was sent for post mortem examination,” Dhaniasaid.

During inquiry, police found that the minor was brought to the hospital by three people. One of them, a woman, said she was the child’s maternal aunt, police said. However, “after sustained interrogation, the woman broke down and revealed that she was the child’s mother and she had strangulated her,” a senior police officer said.

According to DCP Dhania, the woman, originally from Nepal, got married in the country but he allegedly abandoned her when their daughter was around a year old.

“She went to Himachal Pradesh to live with her relatives around four years ago. A few months ago, she met a man on social media, and the two fell in love. Later, she came to Delhi and wanted to marry him but he and his family were not ready to accept the girl. She said that she killed the child out of frustration,” Dhania said.

Till Thursday evening, the woman was living at the man’s house in Wazirabad village with his family. On the day of the crime, she was alone at the house with her daughter. She was arrested on the same day.

Police did not disclose details from the boyfriend’s interrogation, or whether he knew that the girl was the woman’s daughter.

Meanwhile, police said that post mortem revealed injuries on the girl’s genitalia. “The girl’s mother was questioned, and she revealed that a relative in Himachal Pradesh had assaulted the child,” the officer cited above said, adding that a team has been sent to apprehend the suspect.

Police also questioned the boyfriend’s family, and his father revealed that the woman had introduced the girl as her niece.

“She had brought the girl with her and said that she was her sister’s daughter, and that she had adopted the child after the sister died… We told her that she should send the girl to stay with her relatives in Himachal Pradesh, as it’s a big responsibility,” the father said, adding that they got to know that the girl was woman’s daughter only after the arrest.