Fear of ridicule from family members allegedly prompted a daily wage labourer and his wife to kill their newborn baby, their sixth offspring, in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district, a police officer said.

The parents with three daughters, two sons and several grandchildren, have killed the girl child for the fear of being taunted by their children and grandchildren, Inspector-in-Charge of Maynaguri police station, Nandakumar Dutta said.

The 47-year-old man told the police that he and his wife had come to his cousin's house at Saptibari village under Maynaguri police station, where his wife delivered the baby on Saturday.

The police said that the couple strangulated their baby and threw the body in a pond near their relative's house on Sunday.

Locals informed the gram panchayat after finding the body of a child floating in the pond.

After the newborn was identified by their relative, the gram panchayat lodged an FIR with the police on the basis of which which the man and his 38-year-old wife were arrested on Monday, the police said.

The man and his wife, residents of Coochbehar district, were produced in a court in Jalpaiguri on Tuesday, which sent them to three days of police custody.