Six-month-old strangulated by maternal grandparents

The grandparents of a six-month-old girl have been arrested by the Jalandhar rural police for strangulating the child to death since they were unwilling to take her resposibility after she was left at their residence by her mother.

Daljinder Kaur and Tarsem Singh of village Dalla at Bhogpur were arrested on August 16, three days after the child's father registered a complaint with the police, looking for his daughter. The girl was named Eliza.

DSP, Investigation, Sarabjit Rai said Salinder Kumar, a factory worker, resident of Jagatpur, Pathankot, stated that he had been married to Maninder Kaur over two years ago and Eliza had been born to them six months ago. Salinder said Maninder went to her parents' house along with Eliza and Salinder himself dropped them on August 6. Salinder said while calls made to his in-laws since August 8, everyone, including his wife, avoided speaking about Eliza, which caused suspicion.

A case was registered against Maninder and Daljinder at the Bhogpur police station on August 13 for wrongful confinement of his daughter. Subsequently, the girl's grandfather was also nominated in the case and section 103 of the BNS (murder) was added to the FIR- after the duo was found guilty of her murder.

SHO Rakesh Kumar and ASI Mahesh Kumar found that Daljinder and Tarsem strangulated the little girl in the absence of her mother.They put the body in a kit bag and on a motorbike rode to village Khakha near toll plaza Cholag, where they disposed it of.

As per Daljinder's statement to the police, Maninder's daughter Gurjit Kaur, born to her from her previous marriage, was raised by her grandparents, after Maninder had left the girl with them.

Daljinder said after being dropped by her husband at their home, on August 7, Maninder was visited by her husband's relative Jas and the next day, both were missing from the house but Eliza was sleeping on a cot.

The duo told the police, unable to bear the responsibilty of bringing up another child, they decided to murder the little girl to relieve themselves of taking care of her.

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Why the step was taken

Step taken after toddler's mother left her at her parents' home and fled with someone. They told the police that unable to bear the responsibilty of bringing up a child, they decided to murder the little girl to relieve themselves of taking care of her.