Dad kills 18-month-old daughter in murder-suicide (Kalimpong, India)

Dad BINOD RAI killed his 18-month-old daughter in a murder-suicide. "Depression" is blamed. I'd blame depression for a suicide, but blaming the blues for killing a helpless baby is ridiculous. So he had a heart problem. Lots of us have chronic health problems. But we don't suffocate little children over that, do we? Dare we admit that Daddy may have been an abusive narcissist who saw his children as possessions--to dispose of or keep as his mood would dictate?

http://voiceofsikkim.com/2010/11/09/dad-kills-baby-himself/

Dad kills baby, himself
Posted by Voiceof Sikkim on Nov 09, 2010
Dad kills baby, himself
The Telegraph

Kalimpong, Nov. 9: Depression caused by failing health led a farmer to kill his 18-month-old daughter and himself, leaving behind his wife who is due to deliver her second child, at a village near here last evening.

Police said Binod Rai, 26, had recently been diagnosed with heart ailment, following which he had been showing signs of depression.

Around 6.30pm yesterday, he smothered the baby with a pillow while she was sleeping and then hanged himself at his house in Lower Lolay, 12km from here.

“We have registered two cases in connection with the incident — a murder charge against the father, and a case of unnatural death. Investigations are going on. None of the local people, including Rai’s family members, are coming forward to lodge a complaint,” said Jacqueline Dorjee, the additional superintendent of police, Kalimpong.

Dorjee said Rai was a farmer but he also used to do carpentry for extra income.

“His father had given him two acres of land and he was doing fine. He had built a house not very far from his ancestral home, and they all seemed to be a happy family. His wife Bimala is in an advanced stage of pregnancy,” said the officer, who visited the village today.

Narrating the sequence of events, Dorjee said a get-together had been planned at Rai’s ancestral house yesterday and everyone in the family had been invited.

“Rai’s two brothers live close by. Rai worked in his field throughout the day, and helped his father cut grass for cattle. Around 5pm, he told Bimala that he was tired and would rest a bit. The woman said she would proceed to the father’s house for the party and since their daughter was sleeping, asked him to join them with the baby when she woke up,” she said.

However, around 6.30pm, when her husband and daughter did not turn up, Bimala went home and was greeted with the sight of her husband hanging from the ceiling.

“Bimala rushed back to her father-in-law’s house and fainted there. Family members and neighbours went to Rai’s home and brought the body down. They tried to revive him, but couldn’t.

All this while, no one thought about the daughter. Suddenly, someone said the girl had been sleeping in an unusual position on the bed. When they tried to lift her, they found that she had probably been smothered with the pillow that was covering her face,” said the police officer.