INDIA: PREGNANT WOMAN KILLS 6-YEAR-OLD SON IN KERALA IN SACRIFICE TO GOD

Mon 08 February 2021:

A woman was arrested in Kerala’s Palakkad district for allegedly hacking to death her six-year-old son as a ‘sacrifice to God’, police said today. The woman later called the police and narrated the incident, following which she was arrested, police officials said.

Shahida, who is pregnant with fourth child, killed her son late Sunday night and later called the police to inform about the crime.

On Sunday 112 emergency control room in Palakkad received a chilling call. On the call was 30-year-old Shahida, from Pulakkad in Palakkad district, who told the police person that she had murdered her 6-year-old son Aamil, as a sacrifice to Allah. When a team of policemen headed by Assistant sub inspector George Harris reached the house, Shahida was waiting for them at the gate.

Seeing the blood on her, the police rushed inside the house and found the 6-year-old dead in the bathroom, his throat was slit. According to reports, Shahida’s husband Sulaiman and two other children were sleeping in the bedroom, and are believed to have been unaware of the murder.

Shahida who is a teacher at a nearby madrasa is three months pregnant, according to reports. Sulaiman who previously worked in the Gulf now works as an auto-rickshaw driver in Palakkad.

Her husband and two other children, who were sleeping in the adjacent room, came to know about the incident only after the police reached the house, police officials said.

Police have filed a murder case against Shahida and have launched a probe into the matter.

Last month, a couple in Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district killed their two daughters, hoping that they would come back to life within hours due to spiritual power.

The parents, highly educated yet extremely superstitious, allegedly believed their girls were possessed by some evil spirit. Neighbours said the girls were made to circle the house as part of the elaborate rituals.