Indian woman kills father-in-law by squeezing his testicles over cockfight dispute

An elderly man died after his daughter-in-law allegedly squeezed his testicles until one of them burst.

The incident took place when the man, Gau Kerketta, tried to break a fight between his daughter-in-law Anima Kharia and his son Bhairaw Kerketta. The couple were reportedly fighting over losing a cockfight, according to the Hindustan Times.

The couple had to give the bird away to the winner at the village fair in Jharkhand in north India last weekend.

Ashok Kumar, officer-in-charge at the Basia police station said the couple was probably drunk and while they quarreled over the loss, the father-in-law tried to pacify them. The woman in her mid-thirties grabbed his testicles and squeezed them.

The old man died on the spot.

"The man died of excessive bleeding. This was one of the causes mentioned in the autopsy report," he added.

The sudden pressure on the old man's testicles led to a rupture and internal bleeding, the police said.

Kharia was arrested after the incident was reported the next morning and she was sent to Gumla jail on Tuesday (27 June). In her statement to the police, she pleaded guilty but said that the incident was accidental and not intentional.

The couple was, however, not charged for participating in the cockfight event, a sport which is banned in Jharkhand after several protests were made by animal rights activists.

Red, tan, black and white roosters are reared specially for the fights. People often put in thousands of dollars as bets and the price can go higher to almost Rs 3 crore (£358,000), with some participants even placing their immovable properties as bets.