CEO Suchana Seth killed Son : List of Maternal filicide Cases in India 

Suchana Seth, a 39-year-Old CEO from a Bengaluru-based AI startup has been arrested for murder of her four-year-old son at a service apartment in Goa on 9 Jan, 2024. Karnataka police arrested the accused mother Chitradurga district of Karnataka, as she tried to escape in a cab. She was carrying her son’s body in a concealed bag.  

Some Maternal filicide Cases in India reported in 2023  

  7 Sep, 2023: Gwalior :Mother killed her 3-year-old son by throwing him off the terrace. It was alleged that son has caught her having sexual relations with a neighbour in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior.  

30 July, 2023 : Udaipur : Mother killed 14 year old. After the murder,mother called police and informed about the incident confessing her crime.  

12 July, 2023 : Noida- Mother killed her eight-year-old son for having seen her with a Neighbour in compromising position. 

April 20, 2023 :Lucknow: Mother kills two minor sons. She was arrested later women admitted that she was under severe depression.  

22 March, 2023: Nasik :Yukta Rokde, the young mother who had claimed that an unidentified woman had killed her four-month-old daughter, had in fact killed her own baby by slitting her throat with a kitchen knife.  

25 March, 2023: Meerut : Mother Kills Minor Son and daughter with help of lover. 

What is Maternal Filicide

Maternal Filicide is defined as the act of a mother killing her own offspring who is one-year-old or more.
Phillip Resnick in 1969, classified filicide into five classes based on ‘motives’ behind the act. First is altruistic-filicide, where the parent kills the child keeping in mind the ‘best interest of the child’ and is the commonest. The second one is psychotic-filicide, where a parent kills the child without any logical reasoning, under the effect of a severe psychotic experience. The third type is unwanted-child-filicide, where the child is viewed as a hindrance to parents’ social benefits. The fourth type is the accidental-filicide, where parents do not have any motive behind filicide and this commonly follows severe neglect and abuse. The fifth type is the spouse-revenge- filicide where one parent displaces anger towards the child secondary to ongoing severe marital discord, and jealousy.

However , it is not the first time that Bengaluru has seen Maternal Filicide cases. In Aug,2022 a dentist threw her four year old daughter from 4th floor of her apartment. Accused said that her doughter suffering with some development disorder. Another Dentist killed 10 year old daughter in their home in Banashankari in August,2022. Police believes that mother killed her daughter before ending her own life. In Aug, 2022, Mother killed three year old daughter killed by drowning her in a bathtub. Mother also attempted suicide later. 

Murders in India in last 3 Years 

There are 28,522 murders reported in India in the year 2022, however it is marginally lower than year preceding year 2021 and 2020.  

NCRB data reveals that Goa reported 44 murders in 2022. Strangely, Goa- apparently a calm state has crime rate of 2.8 (Crime per Lakh population) is higher than national average. 

Source: NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) 

Cause of Murders in India 

NCRB data analysis reveals that the breakdown of Personal relations is biggest cause of murders in India. Personal vendetta or enmity (13.2%), petty quarrel / dispute (11.5 %) and love affairs continues (4.9 %) are the largest motives of murder.  

Motive of Murder in India (2022) 

Source: NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) 

Source : NCRB  

Murders in Goa : 

44 Murder Cases were reported in Goa in year 2022. Crime Rate 2.8 is higher than national average (2.1) (Crime Par Lakh Populations)