Man kills wailing 14-month old

SNS, Kurseong, 11 July 2013: A 14-month old girl was beaten to death by her father, as he disliked the child on the basis of gender and was also irritated with her constant wailings. This shocking incident was reported at Reang Bazar in the Kalimpong Sub-division in the Darjeeling Hills. 

The father, Sanjay Baraily (28), is a resident of Reang Bazar and works as a labourer along the banks of River Teesta. It was learnt that on the evening of 9 July the injured baby was taken to the Rambhi Primary Health Centre. To the enquiries of the doctors, the parents of the child had said that she had been injured in a fall. After a couple of hours of her admission, the child died.

The emotionally distressed mother while taking her dead daughter back home could not bear the grief and disclosed the truth to her fellow villagers. 

The mother, Pooja Baraily, said that she had two children ~ a three-year-old boy and a 14-month old girl, Priya Baraily. Sanjay disliked the girl child since her birth. Even on simple pretexts he used to beat her frequently. In order to protect her child, Pooja had asked him to stop hitting the baby to which he had replied that he hated her wailings and would kill her one day. Pooja had pleaded with Sanjay to give the baby away for adoption, to which he had refused. She also said that on the evening of 8 July, after her husband returned from his work, he was irritated with his daughter's wails. He had slapped her hard with his full strength. 

Later, on 9 July, at around 7 a.m., before leaving for his work, he again thrashed the baby hard and threw her on the bed. As a result the baby was severely injured and fell unconscious later. 

Meanwhile, seeing the condition of her daughter, the anxious mother immediately brought her baby to the nearby Rambi Block Primary Health Centre in the afternoon, where later Priya’s father also reached. He told the hospital authorities that his baby had slipped and hurt herself.

At around 7 p.m., the baby breathed her last. The villagers, on hearing the truth from Pooja, reached the Rambhi police Out Post and narrated the whole incident after which police immediately visited Sanjay Baraily's house and arrested him on the same night. Yesterday, he was produced before the ACJM Court in Kalimpong, under Section 304 of the IPC, from where he was taken into judicial custody.