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Newborn dies after being held hostage in Bengal village; Pamaria singer arrested
A newborn died after being held hostage for around three hours by a Pamaria singer at Manikchowk in West Bengal’s Malda district on Wednesday morning
A newborn died after being held hostage for around three hours by a Pamaria singer at Manikchowk in West Bengal’s Malda district on Wednesday morning.
The singer from the Pamaria community had come to the residence of a villager, Mampi Sarkar, who had given birth to two boys and a girl on October 29. The accused, Aulad Ali, after blessing the children demanded ₹1500, which the poor family was unable to produce.
Ali refused to hand over one of the babies and was beating drums. The child died on his lap. Later, villagers assaulted the accused and handed him over to the police. He was arrested.
“One of my sons was suffering from mouth ulcer. He also had fever. On Wednesday, a ‘Pamaria’ came to our house and took my son in his lap and started singing and dancing. Thereafter he demanded ₹1500 from us. We told him that we could not give more than ₹300, but he refused to take the amount and kept my son hostage for over three hours. I kept requesting him to hand my baby over to me but he refused to pay heed to my pleas. After three hours when I tried to breastfeed my son he didn’t open his mouth,” the woman said..
The accused, however, told the media, on the way to court, that he had kept the baby only for 5-10 minutes.
“It is a baseless allegation that I kept the baby hostage for money. Local people thrashed me brutally after the death of the baby and snatched ₹5000 from me,” he said.
Pamaria is a community which sings and dances at special occasions like weddings and child birth.
“The accused has been arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by the Sarkar family. He has been charged with culpable homicide not amounting to murder,” said a police officer of Manikchowk police station.
