Agartala:
Police in Tripura arrested a couple on Saturday who threw their newborn baby girl into a septic tank as they did not want a daughter due to poverty.
Acting on a tip-off from the locals, police and fire brigade personnel immediately rescued the baby from the septic tank at Teliamura, 55 km north of Agartala, and shifted her to a nearby government hospital.
"Nitai Singha, 48, a day labourer, confessed to police that he and his wife purposely threw the new born into the septic tank because they did not want a daughter," a police spokesman told reporters.
"Nitai and his wife Sima, who have two teenaged sons, told the police that they had expected another son, but when it turned out to be a daughter, they decided to kill her," the spokesman said.
"We are very poor. We would not be able to take care of a girl child and get her married in future. Therefore, immediately after her birth on Friday night, we decided to kill the girl by throwing her into the septic tank behind our house," the couple told the police.
After their arrest, the police on Saturday presented the couple before a local court, which remanded them to 14 days custody.
Meanwhile, Sishu Kalyan Parishad, an Agartala-based NGO looking after destitute children, has told the court that they are interested in taking care of the baby. The court's order in this regard is awaited.