Killed after birth of girl

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In another grim reminder of prejudice against the girl child in western Tamil Nadu, a young mother who had delivered her second daughter just over a month ago was beaten to death by her husband on Thursday.

S. Pandiarajan, 22, a lorry driver from Teachers Colony in Vadavalli had married Nagadevi, 20, two-and-a -half years ago after courting her for a while. A year after their marriage, Nagadevi delivered her first daughter, P. Iswarya.

When Nagadevi became pregnant again, Pandiarajan desperately hoped for a boy this time. “But she delivered a girl child yet again which made Pandiarajan furious,” police said.

After the birth of his second child, Pandiarajan started coming home drunk every day and harassing her. “He used to beat his wife and abuse her for not giving him a son,” the police said.

On Wednesday night, a drunk Rajan returned home and started to abuse his wife again. Soon he got physical and beat her ruthlessly. “The accused kicked her in the stomach repeatedly and left her to writhe in pain throughout the night,” the police said.

The next morning, Nagajothi began vomiting blood and was rushed to a private hospital where she died without responding to treatment.

Based on a complaint from Nagadevi’s father Mr Ganeshan, Vadvalli police arrested Pandiarajan and his mother Ms Shanthi, who was also allegedly involved in harassing her daughter-in-law.
The body of the woman was sent for post-mortem at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital.