CHENNAI: Police arrested a 38-year-old Thiruvottiyur resident who set ablaze her 10-year-old daughter on Sunday night allegedly after her husband dared her to do so to prove her fidelity. The child, who suffered 75% burns, died on Monday morning and police picked up Jayalakshmi and her husband Padmanabhan. A court later sent them to jail.
The deceased Pavithra, a Class V student of a government school, had been staying with her mother and stepfather Padmanabhan. Police said Jayalakshmi married a man named Palvannan when she was 19. She gave birth to a girl who is now a nursing student and stays with her grandmother in Tuticorin. A few years later, Jayalakshmi left Palvannan and married his younger brother Durairaj, said an officer. The two went to Mumbai where she gave birth to Pavitra. Jayalakshmi then left Durairaj and returned to Chennai where she settled in Thiruvottiyur where she developed a friendship with Padmanabhan, a tanker driver who is a divorcee. They got married nine years ago and have two children now aged six and four. Padmanabhan often got drunk and fought with her, suspecting her fidelity, the officer said. On Sunday night, he began a fresh fight and challenged her to burn her daughter, saying the fire would leave the child unscathed if she was innocent. Jayalakshmi went to the room where Pavithra was sleeping with her stepsisters and dragged her out. She doused the child’s body with kerosene and set fire to her.
Hearing the girl’s screams, some of their neighbours rushed in. They doused the fire, wrapped the girl in thick bedsheets and took her to the KMCH, where she died.
