Mother kills 7-year-old daughter by flinging her from the terrace of a 4-story building twice

In a horrific incident, a seven-year old girl died after her mother allegedly flung her from the terrace of a four-storey residential building twice.

The girl identified as Shreya, also known as Aishika Sarkar, died instantly. The incident took place in the south Indian city of Bangalore on Sunday afternoon (27 August). Police have arrested the mother, Swathi Sarkar, after they rescued her from a furious mob that had tied her to a pole following the incident.

Swathi's neighbours claimed that they saw the woman pick her injured and bleeding daughter from the ground, carry her to the terrace and throw her off the building. Some reports say nobody actually saw her throw the child off the first time, but some neighbours have said they heard a sound and the screams of a child and saw Shreya on the ground when they came out to investigate.

"We thought she was taking her home which was on the third floor as she was bleeding. She instead threw her from atop the building," Indian news publication Deccan Chronicle cited an eyewitness as saying.

After the incident, Swathi went inside her house, changed and came down. That was when neighbours caught hold of her, tied her to a pole and beat her up before handing her over to the police.

Police suspect the woman is mentally unstable. When questioned, she told police that she could do whatever she wanted with her daughter. The child reportedly had speech development issues and had only recently started speaking incoherently.

Neighbours allege that Swathi had been acting strangely since she separated from her husband a few months ago. Swathi's husband, Kanchan Sarkar, told police that his wife would often fly into a rage, lose control over herself and assault the child. He began living separately seven months ago, but would visit his wife and child and pay for maintenance.

Kanchan told police that Swathi went into severe depression after he left her and began blaming her daughter for their separation.

Police have arrested Swathi and are interrogating her. A police source said that she would be sent to the National Institute of Mental Health & Neuro Sciences (Nimhans) in the city for treatment as she showed signs of depression.

If you or someone you know is suffering from depression, please contact a free support service at Mind.org.uk or call 0300 123 3393 (charges apply).