Woman kills toddler with boiling water

Police in Bihar, India has arrested a village council official after she was accused of killing an infant by pouring boiling water on him, supposedly to appease the deities. The ritual killing took place at a village Araria district, some 300km east of Patna, and sparked protests in the area.

Police said Pramila Devi kidnapped the 18-month-old boy from her neighbour’s home and then killed him by pouring boiling water on him on the outskirts of the village.

Police said the accused has confessed her guilt. Officers also arrested her two sons, aged 32 and 30, who allegedly were also involved in the kidnapping of the baby from a neighbour’s home. “It appears the child was killed in witchcraft rituals. The woman herself has confessed she killed him during the course of rituals,”  police spokesperson told the media. The police arrested the accused after she was accused by the victim’s father Sanjay Ram, who hails from Dalit community. “She would terrorise the villagers saying she knows black magic. It was due the fear of her supernatural powers that the local villagers voted for her in the recent local bodies’ elections which she won,” Ram told the police.