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Girl killed over school request
14/08/2007 18:46 - (SA)
New Delhi - A 12-year-old Indian girl was beaten and later hanged by her mother for insisting that she be sent to school, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
The girl was beaten unconscious with a rolling pin by her mother in a village in the Jodhpur district in north-western Rajasthran state earlier this month, the Hindustan Times reported.
"The mother thought she had killed the girl and in panic, decided to make it appear like a suicide," a policeman told the newspaper.
"She allegedly tied a rope around the girl's neck and hung her from the ceiling and rushed out screaming she (the girl) had killed herself," he added.
The woman later admitted to her crime during questioning by police and was arrested.
The girl's father, a worker said the family could not afford a bicycle to send their daughter to school which was about seven kilometres away.
Traditionally, daughters are seen as burdens in large sections of Indian society as huge dowries have to be paid for their weddings. Sons are considered breadwinners who look after their parents in old age.
Despite laws against foetal sex determination being implemented 13 years ago, female foeticide is widespread in India. Several cases of female infanticide are also reported from various parts of the country every year.
A study in the British medical journal Lancet of Indian birth rates in the past 20 years has found that the country has 10 million "missing" females.
Prenatal sex determination and selective abortion account for 500 000 missing girls annually, concluded the study.
- Sapa-dpa
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