Indian Husband beats Wife to Death for having Third Girl

Harish Chandra, from Uttar Pradesh in India, has been accused of violently assaulting and beating his wife to death for giving birth to a girl, and is now currently on the run.

Chandra was reportedly drunk at the time and had lashed out at his spouse alongside other relatives, on the basis that he was angry that his wife had given birth to a girl.

He had repeatedly beaten his wife with a wooden stick, where she fell unconscious. She was later taken to the hospital by her husband, who later fled after fearing he would be arrested for his crime.

After being left alone, the victim, 26-year-old Preeti, sadly passed away, suffering from severe injuries on her head and hands. The victim’s father decided to take action by informing the police.

The police officials have since reported to the media that four men have been arrested and that they are still searching for suspects. Speaking to TOI, Sudhir Kumar Singh, station officer said:

“On the basis of written complaint filed by victim’s father, Raj Bahadur, we have booked four men under IPC section 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder).”

“Last week Preeti gave birth to third girl child, which infuriated her husband. On Sunday night, the accused, who was heavily drunk, took out a stick from the backyard and assaulted her until she fell unconscious.

“They later took her to hospital and left her alone, fearing arrest on assault charges. The victim died in hospital. We are now searching for the accused.”

Added officer Singh.

Unfortunately, this is now currently the second violent case that has occurred in the Agra zone, in less than three months. The Indian government and people are constantly trying to bring awareness of female feticide, gender equality and women’s empowerments and rights.

However, it is proving difficult as a variety of cases are reported per year indicating that the message is not getting through.

According to statistics from UNICEF more than 7,000 cases of female feticides happen daily in India, making India one of the top four countries in the world, alongside China and Vietnam, to have one of the lowest male to female child ratios.