Enraged over 5 daughters, UP man rips open pregnant wife’s belly with sickle ‘to check baby’s gender’

A man, father of five daughters, in Uttar Pradesh’s Badaun was sentenced to life in prison after he ripped open his pregnant wife’s stomach with a sickle to check gender of the unborn baby. She was eight months pregnant.

Panna Lal attacked her wife Anita with a sickle and slit her stomach open in September 2020 saying that he wanted to know if it was male or female foetus.

They used to regularly quarrel about having a son. Anita's family tried to convince Panna Lal to stop fighting but he threatened to divorce Anita and marry another woman to father a son.

On the day of the incident, the couple fought over the gender of the unborn baby again. Enraged Panna Lal threatened to rip Anita's stomach to check if she was pregnant with a boy or a girl. He then attacked her with a sickle and cut open her stomach. The cut was so deep that her intestines were left hanging from her stomach.

Anita was rushed to the hospital. While she survived the attack, her baby, a boy, could not be saved.