'Jealous' aunt throws baby nephew from 30-foot balcony in India in CCTV footage

'It just came to my mind and so I flung him off the balcony. I do not know why I did it,' Sarita Devi says

A “jealous” aunt has been arrested after reportedly throwing her 18-day-old nephew from a third-floor hospital window in India.

The child, named Amnol, survived the fall after landing in anti-monkey netting.

Authorities revealed the incident at a hospital in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh was caught on CCTV.

The child was admitted to hospital to be treated for septicaemia (Caters)

The aunt, Sarita Devi, had taken the infant to hospital to receive treatment for septicaemia because both his parents were working.

Local police say CCTV footage shows Ms Devi later walking to a 30-foot high balcony with a baby in her arms, before walking away again without the child.

Satish Yadav, the baby’s uncle, said: "I had woken up my sister-in-law at around 3.30am to feed the baby. I washed the bottle and she fed him.

"Then we slept but when I woke up again at 5:30am to check the baby, he was missing. I asked her where the baby was but she said she did not know. I immediately raised an alarm”.

According to The Hindustan Times, Ms Devi confessed to police by explaining: “I have three daughters and not a day goes by that I am not bitterly teased that I cannot give birth to a boy.”

“It just came to my mind and so I flung him off the balcony. I do not know why I did it. A voice told me to do it and I followed it,” she told Indian reporters, according to the Daily Mail.

In rural India, women who have not given birth to sons are often the subject of abuse.

Despite being made illegal in 1961, some Indian families still give dowries to the family of the man who marries their daughter. Giving birth to too many girls is, therefore, considered a financial burden to some.

The Hindustan Times reports Panjak Kashyap, a hospital worker who found the boy, said: “Anmol was hanging by the net. Part of the clothes he was wearing was hooked to a protruding iron piece.

“Thank God he didn’t fall.”