Man held for ‘accidental’ death of 13-month-old daughter

The suspect, identified as Jamshed, is originally from Bihar and lived with his wife, Gulafsa (23), and daughter in Sector 22. Both parents work as daily wage earners.

A 28-year-old man was arrested by the Noida police on Saturday in connection with the “accidental” death of his 13-month-old daughter on July 23.

The suspect was nabbed by the Sector 24 police on Saturday afternoon from the Sector 12-22-56 tri-junction. He was produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail. (HT Archives. Representative image)

The suspect, identified as Jamshed, is originally from Bihar and lived with his wife, Gulafsa (23), and daughter in Sector 22. Both parents work as daily wage earners.

According to the suspect’s wife, the incident took place on Thursday afternoon around 1:30pm. “We were sitting in the courtyard and Jamshed was holding our daughter in his lap. For the past few months, there had been some problems between us, and on Thursday we started arguing again. Suddenly, he became very agitated and started shouting at me. In his anger, he almost threw our daughter at me who then fell from his hands and hit her head on the floor,” said Gulafsa.

She said that on hearing the commotion, a few neighbours rushed to her aide and they immediately called up the police. “A PCR team came to the spot and I rushed my daughter to the government hospital in Nithari. But the hospital authorities their said that she should be taken to Safdarjung hospital in Delhi, and it was during the ride that she died,” Gulafsa added. Her husband fled the spot as soon as the police were called.

The child’s body was then sent for an autopsy and later handed over back to the family. Gulafsa filed a complaint with the Sector 24 police on Friday following which a case was registered against Jamshed under section 304 (punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.

Police officers said the suspect’s primary intent was not murder and the death of the child was an accident.

“We first received a call about the incident around 2pm on Thursday, and from the statement of the mother it seems that the suspect lost control during an argument which led to the child dropping on the floor and hitting her head which led to her death. A search had been on for the father ever since the incident,” said assistant commissioner of police, zone 1, Rajneesh Verma.

The suspect was nabbed by the Sector 24 police on Saturday afternoon from the Sector 12-22-56 tri-junction. He was produced before a magistrate and later sent to jail.