Tamil Nadu: Chennai woman burns 10-year-old daughter to death proving fidelity to husband, both arrested

Chennai police arrested a woman in Thiruvottiyur who burnt her daughter on Sunday night. She allegedly set her 10-year-old girl ablaze after her husband challenged her to do so to prove her fidelity, India Today reported.

The child endured 75 per cent burns and succumbed to her injuries on Monday morning. Police apprehended Jayalakshmi and her husband Padmanabhan. Later, a court found them guilty and sent them behind the bars.

Pavithra, a Class 5 student, was staying with her mother, Jayalakshmi (38) and step-father Padmanabhan.

Police said that Jayalakshmi first married Palvannan when she was 19. The two had a girl who is a nursing student and stays with her grandmother in Tuticorin.

According to a report in The Times of India, Jayalakshmi reportedly left Palvannan and wedded his younger brother Durairaj. The two lived in Mumbai, where they gave birth to Pavithra.

Jayalakshmi then left Durairaj and returned to Chennai. She settled in Thiruvottiyur, where she became friends with Padmanabhan, a divorcee and tanker driver. The duo got married nine years ago and share two children aged six and four.

TOI reported that Padmanabhan often got drunk and quarreled with Jayalakshmi, suspecting her fidelity. On Sunday night, a fresh argument broke and Padmanabhan dared her to set Pavithra ablaze, saying the fire would leave her daughter unharmed if Jayalakshmi was innocent.

The mother went to the room where the child was sleeping with her step-sisters, dragged her out, poured kerosene on her body and set her on fire.

Hearing the girl’s screams, neighbours rushed to the house, doused the flames and took the child to the hospital, where she died of burns.