She had a roof, never really had a home

Humans and violence coexist like long-lost twins repudiating each other’s existence, yet wearing the same skin. Humans can deny all they want, blame it on the heat of the moment, but it is rather their wrathful mind. It is never the situation, just human nature.

In May 2026, Anamika, a 9-year-old girl, was allegedly killed in a way that would scare most people out of their wits. She was the daughter of Shantaram from his first marriage, while another child in the family, Sanskar, is her stepbrother. A few days before the incident, the children’s school results were declared. Sanskar had secured first rank, while Anamika stood second. Police said the family allegedly mocked the girl over her ranking.

Upset by the degradation of her efforts and great performance, Anamika is said to have tampered with her stepbrother’s mark sheet, altering his rank. What began as an innocent act of envy transformed into a crime scene. Her father murdered her in cold blood with a wood-cutting machine. A father, probably with his own daughter’s blood smeared all over the place and his body, allegedly tried to cover up the crime by covering the body in cloth and attempting to burn it.

A 9-year-old bright girl, heartbreakingly, entered the world as the offspring of a monster. Even monsters would not harm their own kind, even the most bloodthirsty animals never suck out the blood of their own. Only a human with a stone-cold heart and not even the tiniest flake of humanity could inflict misery on his own daughter.

One may wonder how deranged and unusual it is for a parent to kill their own child. Is it unusual when it is not the first of its kind, though? It is concerning how an existing debate about parents’ unrealistic expectations now involves murders.

In 2025, Sadhana, a 17-year-old girl from Sangli district in Maharashtra, died. Her father beat her to death for underperforming in the NEET exam’s mock test. Dhondiram Bhagwan Bhosale, her vindictive father, a 50-year-old principal of a private educational institution, attacked her with a wooden stick till she was injured enough to bleed to death. Her mother rushed her to the hospital, but the wounds had already dug up her grave, her father had already decided her fate. She has scored 95 per cent in her Class 10 exams and aspired to become a doctor, a girl who dreamed of curing people left bleeding and incurable by a man undeserving of being a father.

In 2024, at a family’s home in Shastrinagar Banashankari, a horrifying murder took place. The victim, 17-year-old Sahiti Shivapriya, had initially claimed she had scored 95% in her II Pre-University (PU) examinations. However, a day before the murder, she admitted to her mother that she had actually failed in one subject. She blamed her mother for her poor grades, calling her unsupportive. Doubting her daughter’s claims, Rani, her mother, reached out to Sahiti’s close friend, only to discover that Sahiti had failed in four subjects, not just one.

This revelation would trigger the motherly instinct in most situations, a mother going through the emotional turmoil of self-doubt, wondering where she had failed to be her child’s safe space, or perhaps the traditional rebuke for the sudden shift of blame. In a rare case like this one, the mother willingly and aggressively stabbed her daughter. The shame of having a troubled daughter who lied about her grades was so burdensome that Rani had to kill her to feel lighter. A daughter, craving her mother’s support, died because her mother not only lacked maternal love but was also devoid of humanity.

About 1 in 6 people are globally affected by infertility; they yearn for the 9 months of frequent pain that parents end up taunting their children for when they do not live up to their expectations. Nobody forced them to bring their own children into the world; it was solely their wish. But the thing about wishes is, they end up being taken for granted.

Anamika, Sahiti and Sadhana were dreamers; they dreamt of their parents’ support. Little did they know that their existence was conditional. To have the right to life, they had to be devoid of emotions and abundant in top ranks. They could not express their feelings, experience common emotions like envy, rebel like every other teenager does at some point or fall short of their expectations.

Their houses had roofs but walls that felt like jail bars. They could be hanged for a nameless crime by their parents at any time. Nameless – because the crime does not exist in actuality but in people’s minds. It is human nature to succeed and to fail. Why does it have to leave a bloody trail?

Keeping a roof over children’s heads does not imply the parents’ fulfilment of their duty. A real home is built with love, despite successes or failures. Anamika, Sahiti and Sadhana had roofs over their heads; they had physiological needs like clothing, food and shelter. Yet the continuity of these necessities and, more importantly, their whole existence, solely depended on grades.

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