AMAN SHARMA Posted online: Wednesday, February 08, 2006 at 0029 hours IST
NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 7: A women who strangled her one-day-old daughter to death while still in hospital and insisted for four days that she had died a natural death, confessed to her crime today.
Pammi, a 25-year-old from Bihar’s Nalanda district, who has two young sons and had a complicated pregnancy, was sent to Tihar jail today. Her husband, Jitendra Kumar, “was not a party to the crime”, police say.
Pammi, who is a heart patient, today said: “I made a mistake. But I did not want a girl child. It’s considered a bad omen back in our village in Bihar. So I killed her.”
She added that her family had gone broke paying her medical bills during pregnancy and even had to sell its agricultural land and cattle.
Pammi was admitted to AIIMS on January 30 in a serious condition, and gave birth to a girl on the night of February 1. The next night she strangled the baby as she slept next to her.
“The nurse came to check on the child the next morning and found her motionless. When she asked Pammi, the lady feigned ignorance saying maybe, the child died a natural death,” police said. “The police were immediately informed,” AIIMS Medical Superintendent D K Sharma said.
A lady investigating officer at Defence Colony Police Station added: “The woman (Pammi) had repeatedly asked the doctors not to inform us and let the matter be. We waited for three days as her medical condition was not good and we could not question her. The infant’s body was sent for post-mortem and the report confirmed murder today. Then, she confessed to the crime.”
Pammi, who has two sons aged five and two, had insisted the baby died naturally but broke down today after the post-mortem revealed nail marks on the girl’s neck. A murder FIR was lodged and the mother arrested.
The investigating officer said Pammi’s family had incurred huge medical expenses because “she is a heart patient and had remained constantly ill during her pregnancy. Doctors at Nalanda District Hospital had told her that her delivery (would be) complicated and she should go to AIIMS, otherwise, there was a danger to the life of both mother and child”.
The officer added: “Her (Pammi’s) husband brought her to Delhi with the money the couple was left with after selling all their possessions. Pammi says the couple did all this believing it would be a boy.”
