Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network – Kasargod (EP)
Kasargod, Jan 7: A cruel act of strangling a newborn to death with an earphone cable has come to light in Badiadka police station limits here. Police have arrested the baby's mother in this connection.
The arrested woman has been identified as Shahina (24), wife of Chedekkal resident Shafi.
The incident took place on December 15, but came to light much later. It is learnt that the woman was brought to Kasargod hospital after she developed bleeding. The doctors who examined her said that the bleeding had occurred after she delivered several hours ago. The doctors asked her family to search the house for the newbown. Upon searching, an infant wrapped in a cloth was found dead under a cot in the house.
Police personnel took the baby's body to Kannur medical college hospital for post-mortem. The post-mortem report indicated that the child died due to strangulation by a cable. The mother on questioning confessed that she had killed the baby. Strangely, her husband and family members came to know of the delivery only in the hospital.
The police have summoned Shahina's husband Shafi and family members to the police station.
Sources said that Shahina had become pregnant within a few months after the delivery of her first child. Her husband and the family were not aware of her pregnancy. Shahina reportedly confessed that she killed the infant on December 15 soon after the birth of the child.
Shahina had not told anybody that she was pregnant. Her first child one year and three months old. She said that she kept her pregnancy a secret due to fear that she may be 'insulted' for becoming pregnant within a short span of time, said the police.
Shahina had hidden the dead baby under the cot with the intention of discarding the body elsewhere. However her act came to light due to her bleeding, the police said.