Mumbai: A 42-year-old woman was arrested Thursday for allegedly killing her 19-year-old differently abled daughter. The mother told the police that she killed her bedridden daughter to save her from the ‘embarrassment’ as she was unable to take care of her personal hygiene despite being an adult.
Andheri police on Wednesday afternoon received a call from the main control room informing them that a 19-year-old girl had died by suicide. Subsequently, the officers rushed to the Vir Hanuman building at Parshiwada at Sahar Road in Andheri west, where they found the girl lying on a carpet.
The officers said that the mother, Shraddha Pattyane, told them that the deceased was her mentally ill elder daughter Vaishnavi Suresh Pattyane and that she had died by suicide.
The police rushed the girl to the Cooper Hospital where she was declared dead. The autopsy report, however, noted that ligature marks on the girl’s neck were not consistent with suicide by hanging.
Based on the report, the police registered a case of murder and began the investigation. The police detained Shraddha as she was the only person at home at the time of the incident.
“On questioning, the mother confessed that she had killed Vaishnavi because she was frustrated with taking care of her,” said Maheshwar Reddy, deputy commissioner of police (zone 10).
Shraddha confessed that she strangled Vaishnavi to death when they were alone at home on Wednesday.
Based on her confession, the police arrested Shraddha for murder under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.
DCP Reddy said that the woman, who has two more girls aged 16 and 2, used to sell breakfast on the road, while her husband works as a sweeper.
The residents of the building and neighbours told the police that Vaishnavi had been bedridden since birth and Shraddha was solely responsible for her daughter’s wellbeing.
“Shraddha is a caring mother and had never ill-treated her daughter. However, her entire day was spent either selling breakfast or taking care of her daughters locked inside the one-room SRA apartment,” a neighbour told the police.
The woman told the police that Vaishnavi was a 19-year-old grown woman but she had to attend to her personal hygiene in front of the father in a small room and it was embarrassing for her daughter as well as herself.
“To save her daughter from this embarrassment, she thought to kill her,” said Reddy
The neighbours said that Wednesday they heard Shraddha screaming from her doorstep saying that Vaishnavi had died by suicide. They found the girl lying unconscious on the floor carpet and a noose made out of cloth hanging from the ceiling fan.
The neighbours then contacted Suresh (Shraddha’s husband) and the police control room.