india

Updated: Oct 03, 2015 14:21 IST

A four-year-old girl in a village near Bareilly was killed allegedly by her father for failing to cover her head while having food, Uttar Pradesh police have said.

The incident allegedly happened on Friday noon when the little girl Farheen was having lunch with her mother. The accused Jafar Hussain picked her up and threw her to the ground repeatedly after she did not notice her dupatta slip off her head, police said.

The FIR filed by the girl’s mother said this happened in front of the whole family and that when she tried to stop him , he beat her up. After the girl died he asked his wife to bury her inside the house, but she refused.

“Police have arrested the father for killing his daughter and we are questioning him about the incident,” superintendent of police BK Srivastav said.

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Neighbours described Hussain, who lives with his wife Naeem and their four children, as a “mentally unstable man” and a staunch religious follower who shunned all contacts even with his relatives. The eldest child is a 5-year- old boy, the youngest was ten months old.

The family lived in poverty and food was not prepared every day, they said.

After they came to know about the incident, the villagers did not dare to enter Hussain’s house till the police arrived three hours later.