Category: Location: India

Driti Balakrishna

Blurry image of a child wearing a red shirt; she has short dark hair and tan skin; she is holding hands with an adult off to the right of the frame.Name: Driti Balakrishna.
Died: August 4, 2022.
Age at death: 4.
Cause of death: Fall.
Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Disability: Autism, intellectual disability, hearing loss.

Details:
Driti died after falling from her fourth-floor balcony. After watching CCTV footage, police arrested her mother, who was allegedly upset because she had to care for Driti instead of working.

Case Status:
Sushma Bharadwaj (Mother), charged with murder.

Sources:
Autism Memorial: Driti Balakrishna
Bengaluru woman charged with murder for throwing her child off apartment
Bengaluru: Police charge dentist with murder for throwing autistic child from apartment
Caught on Cam: B’luru woman throws deaf and mute daughter to death from 4th floor
Woman throws 4-year-old daughter to death in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: 4-year-old dies as dentist mother throws her off fourth floor

Tejaswini

Photo of a baby sitting in a blue chair, wearing a yellow dress and pink flower in her hair. She has light-brown skin, short dark-brown hair, and a bindi on her forehead. She seems upset, her eyes shut and her mouth open in a cry. Off to the side, an adult is holding her arm. Name: Tejaswini.
Died: August 1, 2022.
Age at death: 1.
Cause of death: Drowning and/or fall injury.
Location: Jangaon, Telangana, India.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Tejaswini’s mother claimed that a robber had tried to steal her gold necklace, and that when she refused, the robber had thrown the baby into a water sump. Neighbors rushed the child to the hospital, but she was dead on arrival. Police, who checked CCTV camera footage, say that there was never a robber, and Tejaswini’s mother threw the baby into the sump herself because she was frustrated that Tejaswini’s disability was not being cured, and tired of the financial burden of caring for her. At the police station, Tejaswini’s mother allegedly confessed to killing her.

Case Status:
Prasanna (Mother), charged with murder.

Sources:
Jangaon woman kills 1-year-old disabled daughter
Woman kills her infant girl child in Jangaon
Telangana: Big twist in Janagama child death case.. Police shocked to hear mother’s truth..!

Prakash Thakur

No PhotoName: Prakash Thakur.
Died: July 12, 2022.
Age at death: 26.
Cause of death: Head injury.
Location: Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, India.
Disability: Deaf.

Details:
Prakash and his cousin were drinking together when his cousin became angry at him and allegedly killed him by hitting him in the head with a rock.

Case Status:
Pradeep Thakur (Cousin), arrested.

Sources:
History-sheeter kills deaf-mute cousin in Bilaspur

Gulabi Kerketta

No PhotoName: Gulabi Kerketta.
Died: July 11, 2022.
Age at death: 23.
Cause of death: Beaten.
Location: Alipurduar, West Bengal, India.
Disability: Intellectual disability; Deaf.

Details:
Gulabi’s brother allegedly beat her to death because she couldn’t make it to the toilet and had an accident in her room.

Case Status:
Ajit Kerkatta (Brother), charged with murder.

Sources:
Disabled woman killed in Dooars, brother arrested

Vaishnavi Pattyane

No PhotoName: Vaishnavi Suresh Pattyane.
Died: June 15, 2022.
Age at death: 19.
Cause of death: Asphyxia.
Location: Andheri, Mumbai, India.
Disability: Intellectual disability, mobility impaired.

Details:
Vaishnavi’s mother reported her death as a natural death; however, authorities who examined the young woman’s body found ligature marks on her neck. After questioning Vaishnavi’s mother, police say she confessed to killing her daughter because she had become tired of caring for her.

Case Status:
Shraddha Pattyane (Mother), arrested on suspicion of murder.

Sources:
Mumbai: Woman booked for murder of daughter with intellectual disability, denied bail
Woman from Mumbai suburb ‘kills’ disabled teen daughter out of ‘frustration’
Mumbai: Mom held for mentally ill girl’s murder
Woman arrested for killing differently abled 19-year-old daughter
Mumbai: Mom held for killing mentally disabled daughter in Andheri

Hena

Photo of an Indian woman in wedding attire, with a golden headdress and earrings, multiple golden beaded necklaces, a red flowered sash, and a purple sari. She has tan skin and black hair.Name: Hena.
Died: May 26, 2022.
Age at death: 42.
Cause of death: Strangulation, head injury.
Location: Alappuzha, Kerala, India.
Disability: Bipolar disorder.

Details:
Hena had recently married, and her husband, a traditional healer, was angry that her family was not providing him more dowry payments. During an argument, he became violent and choked her, slamming her head against a wall and killing her. Investigators discovered that her husband had been harassing her family for money because she had been mentally ill from childhood and he believed he deserved a higher dowry.

Demanding dowries for marriage is illegal in India, and doing so is often associated with domestic abuse, suicide, and sometimes, as in this case, murder.

Case Status:
Appukuttan (Husband), pleaded guilty to murder.

Sources:
Man arrested in suspected dowry killing in Kerala
Kollam woman’s death a case of murder, husband nabbed
Death of newly-wed in Cherthala; police says its murder, dowry abuse, husband arrested
Hena was not released, and neighbors only learned of the death shortly after the funeral

Pankaj

No PhotoName: Pankaj.
Died: May 23, 2022.
Age at death: 22.
Cause of death: Throat cut.
Location: Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Disability: Intellectual disability.

Details:
Pankaj’s brother allegedly cut his throat and tried to burn his body. Police say he confessed to the crime during interrogation.

Case Status:
Ashok (Brother), arrested on suspicion of murder.

Sources:
Man Kills Mentally Challenged Brother In Uttar Pradesh; Arrested: Police

Kalayikkal Ranjini

No PhotoName: Kalayikkal Ranjini.
Died: May 12, 2022.
Age at death: 55.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
Disability: Paralysis.

Details:
When Ranjini’s husband told police that she had died, her neighbors urged police to investigate. When they found marks on her neck, they questioned her husband; police say he confessed to strangling her because he “could not bear her suffering”.

Case Status:
Muniswami (Husband), arrested on suspicion of murder.

Sources:
Idukki: Bedridden woman killed by husband
Man held for strangling bedridden wife in Idukki

Girija

No PhotoName: Girija.
Died: April 21, 2022.
Age at death: 68.
Cause of death: Strangled.
Location: Melamcode, Kerala, India.
Disability: Unspecified; bedridden.

Details:
Girija was found dead by her son; she had been strangled. Police arrested her husband, whom they suspect of killing her before injuring himself non-fatally.

Case Status:
Sadasivan Nair (Husband), hospitalized; will be arrested when his injuries are treated.

Sources:
Woman’s death turns out to be murder