Another baby beaten, bitten as dad wanted a son

While two-year-old Falak, abandoned by family and battered by a teenager, died in a Delhi hospital in March, three-month-old Neha Afreen is battling for life in a hospital here with similar injuries - brain haemorrhage, cigarette burns and bite marks all over her body.

It's a redux of baby Falak's struggle for life - with another twist.

While two-year-old Falak, abandoned by family and battered by a teenager, died in a Delhi hospital in March, three-month-old Neha Afreen is battling for life in a hospital here with similar injuries - brain haemorrhage, cigarette burns and bite marks all over her body.

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Afreen was mauled by her father, car mechanic Ummer Farooq, 25, because she survived while her twin brother died at birth.

On April 5, Ummer allegedly burnt Afreen's back with a cigarette, bit her cheeks and neck after clamping his hand on her mouth when her mother Reshma Banu was busy with household work.

Reshma, 20, Farooq's second wife, rushed the baby to a hospital with the help of her neighbours and father-in-law.

She complained to the police that Farooq had tried to kill the baby last month, too.

Dr Premlata, a paediatrician with the state-run Vani Vilas Hospital, where Afreen was admitted on April 8, said, "There is also a history of smothering the baby with pillow."

"She's on ventilator support and her condition is being monitored," Dr Gangadhar, the hospital medical superintendent, said.