Though our girls have helped our country reach the moon, still some segments of society believe they are lesser than boys. In a recent heart-wrenching incident, a son-obsessed father was arrested for killing his 17-day-old daughter in Tamil Nadu by burying her alive on the riverbed near Tirukovilur.
15 months ago, D Varadharajan, a 29-year-old father, got married to his wife, Saundharya. Being a farmer by profession, the couple used to live on their farm at Athandamaruthur.
As per the police, Varadharajan was disappointed after his wife gave birth to a girl 17 days ago at JIPMER hospital in Puducherry.
On Tuesday around 12.30 am, when the mother was asleep after feeding her newborn, the father took the baby to the Thenpennai riverbed, 500m away from his house. And, what he did next would shock you and think how could a father do this to his own daughter.
He dug a pit and buried the baby girl alive. When the mother got up at 4 am, she was shocked to find her daughter missing. Without wasting any time, the distressed mother started screaming for help.
It was only after the father confessed to the crime, the couple’s relatives and villagers alerted the police. The infant’s body was exhumed in front of police and revenue officials.
Sadly, it isn’t the first time that this father tried to kill his newborn. As per the police, this is his second infanticide bid. When the baby was only three days old, he had tried to kill the new-born baby. At that time, he was stopped by his relatives.
As per the sources, the shameful father, Varadharajan, told police that he was confident that they will have a son and had told his wife and relatives that if his wife gives birth to a girl, he may not keep the baby.
Though the accused has been arrested, it makes us sad and angry that even in the 21st century, a huge segment of our society detests the birth of a girl child.
Our government has launched numerous policies for the girl child to change the rudimentary thought process of our society. But, still every other day, we hear incidents about the killing of young girls that make us hang our heads in shame and wonder what if these young girls could have become the next Kalpana Chawla or Indra Nooyi.
As we pray for this young soul to rest in peace, we wonder how we can call ourselves a civilized society. We need to stop this madness, where young girls are killed only in the desire of having a son.
