Doctors in India managed to save a pregnant woman and her unborn child this week after she was shot three times in her home on Friday, according to the Daily Mail.
Susheela Kumar, 27, of Mahavir Colony, India, and her baby boy survived; but her husband and his parents both were killed in the same attack, according to the report. Police are still searching for suspects, but they believe the gunmen could have been members of Susheela’s family who were unhappy with her marriage, the report states.
The gunmen reportedly attacked the family while they were sleeping on Friday in their home. Authorities said Pradip and his parents were shot and killed in the attack. Susheela, who was nine months pregnant, also was shot three times with bullets piercing her arm, mouth and pancreas, the report states.
Authorities said neighbors called for help when the gunmen left, and Susheela was taken to the hospital where doctors delivered her son via C-section. The baby boy is in the intensive care unit, but reports did not give any more details about his or his mother’s conditions.
Here’s more from the report:
Susheela was an upper cast Jat and had married Pradip, also 27, four years ago against her family’s wishes.
The couple fled their village to start a new life, but returned to Pradip’s family home when she became pregnant.
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Authorities are suspecting the incident was an attempted honour killing. …Honour killings, where families and relatives target couples for marrying against set social norms have been carried out for centuries in India.
They mainly take place in rural areas of states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh which have a very conservative and deeply patriarchal society.
Relatives kill the couple to save their reputation and honour in the society and to set an example for other children to not dare go against the social norms.
The number of violent incidents against pregnant women that occur every year is disturbing. In the past LifeNews has reported numerous cases where pregnant women and their unborn babies were targeted for violence, including forced or coerced abortions.
Violence against pregnant women and their unborn babies is not uncommon even without counting abortion. Pregnant women face high levels of domestic violence in the United States. One in six women is first abused during pregnancy, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Sometimes the abuse occurs after the woman refuses her partner’s demands to have an abortion, as it did with a Pennsylvania case in 2015.
In May, LifeNews reported another gruesome murder case involving a North Carolina woman who allegedly was murdered by her boyfriend after refusing to abort their child.
And in March, a Brooklyn, New York man was sentenced to 32 years in prison for a similar case. A jury found Torey Branch, 35, guilty of abortion, burglary and assault for beating his pregnant girlfriend and causing the death of their unborn child, LifeNews reported.
