Female Infanticide Rising In Tamil Nadu? Special Team To Probe Suspected Incidents Across State

The decision comes after a couple from Yellur village in Vellore district, Jeeva (28) and his wife Dayana (20), were arrested on Friday for allegedly poisoning their infant daughter to death.

Vellore has a troubling history of female infanticide and feticide, with reports of several such cases in recent years.

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The Tamil Nadu Police have announced the formation of a special team to investigate cases of female infanticide and feticide across the state. This decision comes after a couple from Yellur village in Vellore district, Jeeva (28) and his wife Dayana (20), were arrested on Friday for allegedly poisoning their infant daughter to death.

The arrest followed a complaint by Dayana's father, Saravanan, who reported his suspicions to the Veppensulam Station House Officer (SHO) regarding the sudden death of his granddaughter. Saravanan said his daughter had initially told him that the infant died after slipping from her grasp. Unconvinced by this explanation, he filed a complaint with the police.

Upon questioning, Jeeva and Dayana confessed to killing their daughter because they were expecting their next child to be a boy. In response to this tragic incident, the Tamil Nadu Police have decided to set up a special team, led by a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) level officer, to determine if other such cases are occurring in the state.

Crackdown By Special Police Team

The special police team will collect data from all district police headquarters on infant deaths over the past year. The Vellore district police will collaborate with the District Child Protection Department and Child Welfare Committee to identify the number of infant girls across the state.

Vellore has a troubling history of female infanticide and feticide, with reports of several such cases in recent years. Instances of deaths due to milk aspiration involving female babies are reported almost every month. In response, the Vellore district administration had previously issued directives to district medical officers to classify second daughters as high-risk babies and conduct weekly follow-ups for at least a month. Taluk hospitals were also instructed to monitor the health and growth of female babies, with village nurses and technicians assigned to track their development.

The state's medical department has increased enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act of 1994 to combat female feticide. In recent years, the Tamil Nadu police have conducted crackdowns on illegal scan centers that conduct gender identification. For example, 22 illegal scan centers were shut down in Tiruvannamalai district a few years ago.