Woman murders her 3-month-old daughter after fight with husband

The woman’s family, however, denied the police version and said the infant died after the thread “somehow tightened around her neck”.

After a quarrel with her husband, a 26-year-old woman allegedly strangled her three-month-old daughter, using a thread tied around the infant’s neck, at their residence in north-west Delhi’s Haiderpur area, police said on Friday.

Deputy commissioner of police (north-west) Usha Rangnani said the incident happened on Thursday afternoo (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

Deputy commissioner of police (north-west) Usha Rangnani said the incident happened on Thursday afternoon and added that the accused, Anjali Devi, was arrested from their rented house on the fourth floor of a building in Haiderpur on the same day. A case under Indian Penal Code section 302 (murder) has been registered.

A senior police officer said that Devi has allegedly confessed, adding that she strangled the infant with the help of a thread worn around the latter’s neck. “She had a quarrel with her husband in the morning over some domestic issue. When he left for work, she killed the baby in a fit of rage by pulling the thread worn around her neck,” the officer said.

The woman’s family, however, denied the police version and said the infant died after the thread “somehow tightened around her neck”.

Neeraj Kumar, the son of the owner of the house in which the accused and her family stayed, said that he returned home around 1pm to find his wife trying to console Anjali who was holding her lifeless daughter and crying upstairs. His wife said, “I heard Anjali crying so I went upstairs. She told me her daughter has died and asked to call her family.”

Anjali’s husband Sanjeet, a private firm employee, and mother-in-law Sulekha Devi, a house help, were subsequently informed about the incident.

Sulekha said Anjali wouldn’t kill the baby. “We had made the girl wear a thread to ward off evil eyes. I think that the girl’s neck got wrapped around it and she died,” she said.

Narrating the sequence of events during the day, Sulekha said around 9am, Anjali and Sanjeet got into a fight over packing lunch before he left for work. “She seemed okay. She cooked in the morning, did all the household work, bathed the girl and massaged her also. My grandson was asking for a mango drink and I told him I’ll get him one. Anjali even taunted me saying that I only love the grandson,” she said, adding that she left for work around 11am.

Neeraj said that Anjali was staying at her parent’s home in Bihar’s Darbangha for a year and had returned only on April 3. “Her mother-in-law used to often quarrel with Anjali and this used to lead to fights with her husband as well... She had started blaming the daughter for all her problems,” he said.

DCP Rangnani said the post-mortem was conducted at Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital and the infant’s body was subsequently handed over to the family.

Criminal psychologist Anuja Kapur said women who kill their children or take their own lives a few days or months after giving birth mostly suffer from post-partum depression. “After giving birth, women need help, comfort and care and sadly, many women -- especially from economically weaker sections -- don’t get it, which impacts their mental health,” she said.