Delhi SHOCKER! Woman strangles 6-day old daughter, dumps body, cites social stigma over 4th girl child
By Shweta Kumari | First Published Sep 1, 2024, 2:20 PM ISTA 28-year-old woman in west Delhi strangled her six-day-old daughter while breastfeeding and abandoned the body. She filed a missing complaint to mislead the police. After being located, she confessed, citing social stigma and postpartum depression.
In a chilling turn of events in West Delhi's Khyala area, a 28-year-old woman murdered her six-day-old daughter in a heart-wrenching act. Shivani, who had recently returned home from the hospital, allegedly strangled her infant while breastfeeding and then abandoned the baby's lifeless body. Attempting to cover her tracks, Shivani filed a missing persons report, misleading authorities and complicating their investigation.
The distressing incident was uncovered early Friday morning after local police received a call about a "missing baby" around 5:30 am. Initial investigations revealed that Shivani had fed the baby around 2 am but reported the infant missing when she woke up at 4:30 am.
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A police team was swiftly mobilized to locate the missing child. During this search, Shivani and her husband, Vimlesh, requested to visit the hospital to have Shivani’s stitches removed—a request that seemed peculiar but was not immediately questioned due to her recent surgical procedure.
As the search progressed, investigators discovered a bag on the terrace of an adjacent building. To their horror, it contained the body of the missing baby.
Suspicion fell upon Shivani’s behavior, prompting police to expand their search to bus and metro stations, suspecting the couple might be trying to flee. "We suspected that she was trying to flee. Once located and interrogated, she broke down and confessed to the grim act. She revealed that her fourth daughter's birth had compounded the social stigma she faced. Two of her previous daughters had also died," said DCP (West) Vichitra Veer, according to a report by the Times of India.
Shivani admitted to strangling and smothering her newborn while breastfeeding, driven by overwhelming negative emotions. Unable to cope with the guilt and the fear of how to explain the death to her family, she initially reported the child as missing.
A murder charge has been filed against Shivani under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The authorities are awaiting the results of a postmortem examination to confirm the exact cause of death. The police are also arranging counseling for Shivani, suspecting that her actions may have been influenced by postpartum depression—a severe condition that affects many new mothers, characterized by prolonged sadness, anxiety, and exhaustion.
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