Desperate for son, father batters 3-month-old daughter

The Bangalore Police arrested a man on Sunday on charge of battering his three-month-old daughter as he wanted a son and was allegedly unhappy with the delivery of the baby girl instead. Sustaining serious head injuries, the infant has since been battling for life in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a city hospital.

The police said the accused, Umar Farooq, had attacked the baby girl, Afreen, twice in the past. The incident of the baby's suspected torture by her father came to light when her mother Reshma Bano took the infant to government-run Vani Vilas Hospital for treatment.




In her complaint to the police, Reshma said her husband was unhappy that she had delivered a girl as he only wanted a boy. In the alleged third assault on the baby, the man allegedly took things a little too far hitting her with a blunt object on Thursday.

"He was upset because we had a daughter. He told me to leave the girl at the hospital saying he wants a boy not a girl," the baby's mother said, adding, "Maybe because the baby was crying, my husband stuffed a cloth in her mouth and put a blanket on her. I was sleeping and was unaware of anything till 4 am. My husband told me he did nothing and I believed him. Then he fed her something with a biscuit after which the baby vomited blood. The baby's reports say there are a lot of head injuries and her chances of survival are very grim."

A paediatrician treating the girl at Vani Vilas Hospital, Dr R. Premalatha, said, "Because of the physical assault there is head injury and bleeding and swelling in the brain. Bleeding and swelling of the brain is causing convulsions and breathing problems. The baby is on ventilator."

Admitting that the girl's survival was difficult, Dr Premalatha said, "It is very difficult to say. The child is in a very critical state. We cannot guarantee the child is going to survive."

Even as the baby's father was arrested by the Bangalore Police on Sunday evening, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child's Rights said it would pursue the case seriously.

The incident reminded of two-year-old baby Falak, who after being separated from her mother, was battered and consequently admitted to Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), where the girl died after weeks of her struggle and multiple surgeries.

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