A man in Bihar’s Purnia district bludgeoned his only four-year-old daughter to death allegedly because his wife took too long to cook mutton, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place at Fakirtoli village under Amour police station of the district, about 360 km from capital Patna on Wednesday evening, according to police.
A police team rushed to the village and arrested the man identified as Shambhu Lal Sharma, 40, and sent the girl’s body to Purnia Sadar hospital for an autopsy.
“We interrogated the accused before remanding him to judicial custody. He was regretful,” station house officer (SHO) of Amour police station Pankaj Kumar said as he confirmed the incident.
A case has been registered against Sharma on the basis of the complaint of his wife.
Police said the accused, who works in Gujarat as a labourer, had recently come home on the occasion of Chhat festival.
“Too fond of mutton, he lost his temper when he discovered delay in preparation of his delicacy,” an officer posted at a local police station said.
“In his fit of rage, he started beating his minor daughter who was playing near him. He realised that his action had caused fatal injuries to her when the child went silent and fell unconscious on the ground,” the officer added.
Sharma took his daughter to Amour referral hospital where she was declared brought dead. He fled leaving his daughter in the hospital, however, police succeeded in arresting him.
Locals said the man would often beat his wife as she asked him not to spend money on mutton and liquor.
A few years ago, a man had severely beaten up his wife and set her on fire in Araria allegedly because she had forgotten to put an adequate amount of salt in a mutton dish she had cooked for him.