A 26-year-old woman has been arrested in Assam’s Biswanath district on the charges of killing her newborn daughter. Police said that she was trying to bury the newborn when the local residents stopped her and informed them.
A senior police official of Biswanath district told HT that the incident happened at Bandor Jonghol village at the Itakhola area in the district and the mother, identified as Anowara Khatun, was sent to local hospital after the arrest, due to her poor health condition.
“She is continuously bleeding after giving birth to the child, according to the doctors, and we shifted her to a government hospital. The onlookers said that she went inside a bathroom and probably gave birth to her daughter there on Thursday,” the official said.
Police said that Khatun is a single-mother and has a three-year-old daughter from her past husband. “She said that she doesn’t want to reveal the name of the infant’s father and it is also not clear if the child was stillborn or the mother later killed her,” police said.
Police further revealed that she was staying with her mother after her husband left her last year. “She initially told us that she doesn’t know who is the father of the kid but later changed her statement,” police added.
{{/usCountry}}Police further revealed that she was staying with her mother after her husband left her last year. “She initially told us that she doesn’t know who is the father of the kid but later changed her statement,” police added.
{{/usCountry}}According to the residents of Bandor Jonghol village, Khatun was roaming around the village in a state of heavy pregnancy and suddenly started feeling pain on Thursday evening. “She asked a resident to allow her to use their washroom and went inside. After half an hour, the locals realised that she was missing and she was found digging a hole in a nearby area and the dead child was with her,” a local said.
Though police have arrested Khatun under murder charges, she has refused the claims and told police that the kid was stillborn and she wanted to bury the dead body.
“She told us that she was ashamed of the pregnancy but she wanted to keep the kid. But when she realised that the child died before birth, she wanted to bury it secretly to end the shame,” police said.
Police officials further told the media that the infant’s dead body has been sent for postmortem and the actual reason for the death will be revealed once the report comes. Khatun is also admitted to hospital in a critical condition. According to the doctors, her internal bleeding has become a matter of concern.
Police are investigating the matter further and they are also interrogating Khatun’s family members and some residents of the village.