Parents kill month-old baby girl near Madurai's Usilampatti, bury it

MADURAI: A one-month-old baby girl was murdered by her parents and buried next to their house in a suspected case of female infanticide, in a village near Checkanurani in Madurai district. DSP A Raja said they suspect that the child was murdered by feeding cactus milk, an age-old practice once prevalent in the Usilampatti region, infamous for female infanticide.
The sudden demise of the baby born on January 30 created a stir in the village. Suspecting that she could have been murdered, it was the villagers who alerted the local police. Subsequently, district superintendent of police N Manivannan ordered a detailed inquiry. A team led by Usilampatti deputy superintendent of police A Raja was pressed into action under the guidance of additional superintendent of police S Vanitha. The police picked up the baby’s parents V Sowmiya, 22, and S Vairamurugan, 32, from Pullaneri village as also Vairamurugan’s father S Singathevar.
Police officials said the accused spilled the beans during the inquiry. Checkanurani police registered a case under IPC section 302 (punishment for murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and arrested the trio after obtaining a complaint from village administrative officer Mandhakalai. They will be produced before judicial magistrate and lodged in prison. S Vanitha told TOI that the couple already had a two-and-a-half-year-old girl when Sowmiya gave birth to another girl at a PHC in Chellampatti.
Although they have registered a murder case, they have not invoked the act related to female infanticide. That will be decided during the course of inquiry based on its merit, she said. However, it will be clear only after getting the postmortem report. The body was exhumed in the presence of revenue officials on Thursday and postmortem conducted with the help of a medical team on the spot, he said. Vairamurugan was working as a load man in Simmakkal. They had told villagers that the child, who frequently fell ill, died due to a health problem. But that did not convince the villagers and one of them called up the police, DSP Raja said.
It was in November that a 15-day-old baby girl died under unexplained circumstances at Kunjampatt village near Usilampatti and was buried without informing the police. The body of the children was subsequently exhumed and postmortem conducted. Officials say they had registered a suspicious death case and are waiting for lab reports to proceed further in the case.