In a horrifying incident in Uttar Pradesh's Budaun district, the father of five daughters, slashed open his wife's abdomen to check the foetus' gender on Saturday evening. The father was in a fit of rage after a priest predicted they would have a 'sixth girl child'.
The woman is currently undergoing treatment at a medical facility, while the husband has been detained by the police.
Fear of girl child makes man assault wife
In an age where gender equality has become a talking point and a cause for concern, incidents such as these become a step back in the hope for a safer environment for girls and women. In UP's Budaun district, a man named Pannalal, a labourer aged 43 had returned home on Saturday evening, drunk.
After proceeding to argue with his wife Anita aged 40 who was in her 4th month of pregnancy, over the possibility of giving birth to a girl child for the sixth time, the man was in a fit of rage. It was reported that a priest had predicted that the couple's next child would be a girl as well.
What followed was a gruesome attack wherein Pannalal used a sharp-edged weapon to cut open his wife's abdomen in other to determine the gender of the foetus. She was moved to a medical facility and is in a critical condition.
Neighbours intervened to move the woman. An FIR was filed against the accused Pannalal who has now been detained. The family of the woman had said that Pannalal often used to beat his wife for giving birth to daughters, however, they hadn't expected he would turn so violent.
The police are currently waiting for the woman's family to file a written complaint so that they may register the case.
