Woman in Kerala held for smothering newborn to death

Thiruvananthapuram: In a gruesome incident, a 42-year-old woman allegedly smothered her newborn child to death and buried the body in a pit she dug in the backyard of her beachside home in nearby Anchuthengu, police said on Friday.

The arrest of Juli, who confessed to the crime, was recorded on Thursday. The incident came to light when stray dogs pulled the decomposed body of the infant out of the pit and were found devouring it on the beach some days ago.

The woman, already a mother of a 13-year-old child, was a widow, and no one in her family knew of her pregnancy, they said.

According to police, the accused experienced labour pains on July 15 night, and delivered the child at the washroom of her home in Anchuthengu, about 30 kms away from here.

"Soon after the delivery, she smothered the newborn to death, dug a pit in the backyard, and buried it," a senior officer told PTI. (PTI)