Needle prick kills 4-day-old in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: In a case of suspected female infanticide, a four-day-old baby died on Sunday after being injected with a hot needle in Shoolagiri, Krishnagiri district.

Nila (20), who delivered her second baby on Wednesday, had employed an untrained ayah to administer the “needle poke”, considered a traditional “way of curing ailments”.

Officials said the villagers have been following the practice of pricking hot needles into chests, abdomens and groins of newborns to “make them immune to diseases”.

Krishnagiri district collector Santhosh Kumar told DNA a case of suspected female infanticide had been filed against the parents, Nila and Jayaraman.