A six-year-old girl was allegedly killed by her own father so that he could qualify to contest local body elections under India’s two-child norm, police said.
The victim, Prachi Kondamangale, was identified after her body was recovered from a canal in Nizamabad district. Her father, Panduranga Kondamangale, has been named as the prime accused in the case.
Panduranga, a salon owner with three children, was preparing to contest the upcoming gram panchayat elections in his native village of Kerur in Maharashtra. Under the two-child norm, individuals with more than two children are disqualified from contesting certain local body elections.
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According to investigators, Panduranga had made multiple attempts to remove the child from official records. He allegedly tried to give Prachi up for adoption and later approached the Pune Municipal Corporation to alter her birth details. Both efforts were unsuccessful.
Police said that after these attempts failed, Panduranga decided to falsely show the child as missing. He reportedly took Prachi on his motorcycle on the pretext of a trip to Nizamabad.
During questioning, Panduranga initially told police that the child was undergoing treatment at a health centre. However, officials said he later confessed to killing her.
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Investigators stated that Prachi was thrown into the Nizamsagar canal, and her body was recovered on 29 January near the ARP camp in Nizamabad district.
Her identity was confirmed after a photograph circulated online. Following this, Panduranga and the village sarpanch, Shinde Ganesh, were arrested in connection with the case.
Several Indian states enforce the two-child norm to promote population control at the grassroots level by restricting electoral eligibility. The case has sparked renewed debate on the social and human consequences of such policies when combined with political ambition.
