A Pakistani man has been detained on suspicion of murdering his seven-day-old newborn girl because he wanted his first-born to be a boy.
Jannat, whose name means 'heaven' in Urdu, was shot five times on Monday at her house in Mianwali, police said.
According to the Dawn newspaper, the culprit, named as Shahzaib Khan, reportedly entered his residence and demanded his wife to hand up Jannat before shooting the week-old infant dead.
Shahzaib, who has been married for two years, then left the scene until being apprehended on Thursday in a nearby neighborhood, according to police.
According to Mail Online, tribal customs in some regions of Pakistan make it possible for infant females to be regarded an insult to men.
Hidayatullah Khan, the girl's maternal uncle, filed a legal complaint against the murder suspect.
'A baby girl was born...he was infuriated,' Hidayatullah said, referring to the father.
Shahzaib had not returned to the family home after learning that his wife had given birth to a baby girl and refused to acknowledge her, according to the bereaved relative.
The suspect entered the family home, where relatives had gathered, and demanded his wife to hand up Jannat to him, according to Hidayatullah.
'The suspect took the girl into his hands and shot her dead,' he told Dawn.
Hidayatullah stated he tried to take the infant away from Shahzaib, but the suspect drew a revolver and threatened to shoot him and the other relatives if they got too close.
The case sparked fury in Pakistan, with the public condemning the 'brutal' death of the newborn baby.
'This is beyond barbaric,, brutal and vicious. The only solution to stop this brutality is hanging him publicly,' Tehseen Qasim wrote on Twitter.
'I'm disgusted to the core. I feel terribly for the mother. Look at the beautiful daughter she had. Women lead the world, it's 2022,' wrote Misbah Munir, another Twitter user.