Woman kills physically challenged daughter, self

SALEM (Tamil Nadu): A woman in a Tamil Nadu village here drowned her physically challenged daughter before committing suicide, police said on Tuesday.

Police also questioned around 25 villagers for illegally cremating the bodies.

The bodies of C. Selvi, 44, and her physically challenged daughter Jayalakshmi, 18, were cremated by their relatives, including the woman's husband N. Chandrasekharan, 51, on Monday.

Chandrasekharan, who decorated marriage marquees, reportedly confessed to police that his wife had drowned their daughter as they had no hopes of getting her married, and then committed suicide.

"My wife was particularly sad since despite my helping out in other people's marriages, I could never marry off my own daughter who was afflicted by sudden paralysis of her limbs a few years ago," the grieving father told policemen on Tuesday.

The district, some 300 km south of state capital Chennai, has witnessed cases of female infanticide due to the evil of dowry and crippling marriage expenses.

At least 60 cases of female infanticide were reported in the last 11 months, according to official statistics.

"Virtually the whole village participated in the illegal disposal of the two bodies. A few of them may be prosecuted," a police official said.