Man Tried Burying Newborn Alive For Lack Of Money To Treat Tumor

In a shocking incident, a father tried to bury his newborn child alive in the northern Indian city of Srinagar, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. According to local reports, the baby boy was born with a tumor and the father did not have money for the treatment.

The man, identified as Manzoor Hussain Banyari, was arrested Tuesday in an attempt to kill his child. Local media reported that Banyari approached a man, a gravedigger in the city to dig a grave for his son. He told the gravedigger that his son died the previous day.

When Banyari arrived at the graveyard to bury his son, the child started crying as soon as he lowered the infant into the grave.

"People handed over the accused to the police station in Nowhatta. He stated that the infant was suffering from some congenital disease for which he did not have the means to treat the child," a police officer told local media.

Police said that the child was admitted to a hospital for treatment. The mother of the child also remains in the same hospital where she gave birth to the baby boy.

Another similar incident took place in India in 2017, however, it was not linked to poverty, but gender discrimination. A man was arrested on suspicion of burying his newborn daughter alive because he wanted a boy. Local villagers rescued the baby after spotting her feet sticking up from a shallow sand pit in the state of Odisha. The father was charged with attempted manslaughter.

Poverty plays a role in several such cases where people choose the path of crime. Meanwhile, in some parts of India, parents still consider daughters a burden as they have to pay huge dowries to get them married, later in life. However, sons are considered to be a financial support system in their old age.

In another recent incident, a newborn baby died after her mother chopped off the infants extra fingers and toes, as she feared the oddity could hamper the baby girl's chances of finding a groom for marriage. She had allegedly coated the baby’s injuries with cow dung, but the girl died within hours. She then buried the child.