She was just 21 days old, her family hadn't even picked a name for her.
But 'laali', as they nicknamed her, was strangled and drowned in a water tank — allegedly by her own father.
The incident took place in the Indian capital of New Delhi's Dwarka area.
Mukesh, 26, who was arrested confessed to the crime he committed in a fit of rage, following a fight with his wife.
It was the infant's mother, 23-year-old Kiran, who lodged a police complaint against her husband, a businessman.
In her complaint, Kiran said: "After the baby was born on August 16, I was planning to visit my mother’s house, Mukesh wasn’t happy about the decision. On Friday, he took the baby and went to the terrace.
"I waited for them but when they didn’t come back after an hour, I went upstairs. Mukesh had locked the door that led to the terrace. I knocked multiple times but nobody answered. Babita, my niece, also came upstairs…
"Mukesh finally opened the door and I saw my child lying on the cot. I realised she wasn’t crying or moving… When we asked Mukesh what happened, he said he was angry and had strangled her… he also drowned her in the water tank," Kiran was quoted indianexpress.com as saying.
Indian media reports say that the local police reached the spot and took the unconscious infant to a hospital where she was declared brought dead.
DCP (Dwarka) Anto Alphonse said: “We received a call from a woman about the incident. We reached the spot and found the infant lying unconscious on the terrace. She was rushed to the nearest hospital where doctors declared her dead on arrival.
"A post-mortem was conducted and we found that the child was first strangled and then drowned. The woman said her husband had killed the infant. We arrested the man and he confessed to his crime. A case of murder has been registered,” the DCP confirmed.
