Woman sets herself, infant ablaze

BHOPAL - A woman set herself ablaze with her three-week-old daughter in her lap in Gunga village on the outskirts of the Madhya Pradesh capital, police said Monday. The child died. The mother survived.

With the child in her lap, Inder Bai, 27, poured kerosene on herself and set herself afire late Sunday evening while her husband, Jagdish Ahirwar, 30, a labourer, was away at work. She is suspected to be mentally deranged, the officer in charge of the Gunga police station said.

Jagdish’s father rushed to the spot and brought the woman and child out of the room but the infant had died by then. The woman was taken to hospital where she was reported to be out of danger.

Jagdish’s family members told the police that Inder Bai had been behaving strangely after the child was born three weeks ago. “She had even refused to recognise her parents. She would keep repeating that she was dead and would ask why she was not being given a funeral. However, the family members didn’t take it seriously,” the police official said.

Inder Bai has been booked for murder and attempted suicide.