Punjab's Jind was witness to a brutal murder of a pregnant woman and her unborn child that took place possibly because of the society's unceasing obsession for a male child.
Irwander Singh and his elder brother Nirmal Singh allegedly force fed abortion pills to the former's wife, Manjeet, after a sex determination test confirmed she was pregnant with a girl again.
Such was their devastation that the two brothers are alleged to have pressed Manjeet's stomach to force the 3-month-old fetus out, leading to her death.
A report by the Indian Express details the horrific end to Manjeet's life, a postgraduate who married Irwinder in 2011.
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Quoting her father, the report says Manjeet was a victim of domestic abuse and ever since she gave birth to a daughter, tensions escalated between the couple.
According to him, Manjeet was forced to undergo a sex determination test which revealed that sex of the fetus was female. However, Manjeet's in-laws have refuted the claim, instead accusing her father of having taken her for the test.
The police has arrested the accused Irwander and Nirmal but it is still not clear whether a sex determination test, which is banned in India, was conducted and by whom.
SSP Jagraon Surjeet Singh told the newspaper 'The accused have confessed to buying abortion pills. It is yet to be established if any sex determination test was conducted, though the aborted foetus was female.'
