Father arrested in India after twins 'buried alive'
Police in India have arrested a man and charged him with murder for burying alive his six-day-old twin daughters, police said today.
Samantsinh Sodha wanted a son, but his wife gave birth to baby girls last week in Nakhtrana, a town in western Gujarat state, said GS Malik, superintendent of police.
Sodha, who worked as an attendant at a petrol station, allegedly took the twins away while his wife was sleeping and buried them in a pit on Wednesday night, Malik said.
Police arrested him yesterday, he said, adding that the baby girls had died.
Indian society has long favoured boys, who do not require the enormous dowry payments that bankrupt many poor families when Indian girls marry.
