Trigger warning: death, murder, brutality
“Do bacche meethi kheer, usse zyada bawaseer” because the literal translation is repulsive, this slogan says that two children are the perfect recipe for a healthy family; the third will spoil the broth. Many of these population control slogans have become famous around the world over the years. When we sit in the urban environment and look at the masses from a bird’s eye view, the election campaign seems necessary and fun. But do we need to pause to consider its true implications?
A Six-year-old girl was reported missing on January 29, 2026 in Nizamabad district of Telangana. In the afternoon, the police chief received a call informing him that a body had been found dragged from the Nizamabad Sagar distribution canal and he did not respond. When the head constable arrived at the scene, he noticed that there was no flatulence and a glittery bindi glistened on the bruised forehead. He soon realized she had been discovered just moments too late. A case has been registered under Section 194 of the Penal Code, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which governs cases of suicide and unnatural deaths. Meanwhile, the search for her family began and through WhatsApp forwards and audio messages, a relative identified that the girl was from Mukhed and the daughter of a hair salon owner from Maharashtra. She was reported missing and after the autopsy, the body was handed over to the parents who returned home.
But the case had just begun. How could a child end up alone in a canal at such a height? Surrounded by three villages, the canal supplies the Nizam sugar factory and lush rice fields. It was unusual for a child to be able to leave the side embankments of the canal. The father was contacted and asked to come to Bodhan police station. He talked about how stressful the last few days had been as they waited for information about their child. Police then showed CCTV footage of his daughter, who was a passenger on a bike driven by a man. The man was identified as Pandurag Baburao Kodamangle, her father. When the police pressed Kodamangale, they unexpectedly revealed a real-life horror story: This father of three had deliberately planned the murder of his daughter in order to qualify for the local elections, where a two-child family was the eligibility criteria.
Mistake in the 2-child policy
Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)1948 by the United Nations states that men and women have the right to marry and “raise a family.” This has been interpreted as the right of individuals to decide whether to become parents and how many children they want to have. However, the right to reproductive autonomy has been restricted in countries experiencing demographic imbalances due to population growth. To justify restrictions on this generally recognized fundamental right, the dramatically emphasized dilemma of “family versus nation” is cited. China introduced the “one child policy” in 1980 and limited the number of urban residents to one child, while allowing some exceptions for rural residents and ethnic minorities. The exception was the unfortunate birth of a female child, which required fairer justice for the destitute families who were deprived of a male offspring. Under the guise of widely available contraceptives, financial benefits, and employment incentives, the regime simultaneously carried out forced abortions, harsh punishments for violators, and mass sterilizations by local officials who were required to meet birth quotas.
As if they had overcome a pandemic, the government claims that 400 million births were “prevented” and that The adoption took place in 2016 the “two-child policy”. This was merely a reward or a form of relaxation, but an emergency response to the twin challenges of a shrinking workforce and an aging population, often referred to as a “demographic time bomb.” China had a skewed sex ratio, with 33 million more men than women, thousands of missing and/or abandoned girls, and millions of over-quota children born in secret and never registered. They were derogatorily referred to as “black children” (heihaizi) and had no hukou (residence permit). They were denied public education, health care and legal employment.
By 2021, the policy review had failed to close the gap, and the “Three child policy‘ was issued. Social contributions for births exceeding the quota were abolished, and five years later, on January 1, 2026, China ended a 30-year tax exemption on contraceptives and imposed a 13% VAT on condoms, birth control pills and other devices. Raising the retirement age and covering the costs of prenatal examinations and births are urgent measures given that China’s fertility rate is 1.0 (the replacement level is 2.1) and the country recorded its lowest birth rate last year since its founding in 1949. What is less encouraging is the fact that this does not bode well for the entire population, who are now faced with inflated prices for education and housing.
The history of the most populous country
Home to one of the world’s youngest populations, India overtook China in 2023 to become the most populous country. 17.8% of the world’s population lives here and 50% of them are under 25 years old. Yet the nation is unhappy. On the one hand, given the rapid decline in the total fertility rate to 1.9, experts predict a scenario in the distant future that could lead to labor shortages and increased dependence on the elderly. On the other hand, there are fears of “demographic collapse” stoked by political leaders and tech billionaires.
Be it Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the right-wing socio-political organization Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), who presents his 3-child logic and warns about possible dead or new chief ministers of Tamil Nadu families are crowding into the southern states to counteract discrimination injustices by having more children; Divided by ideology, the right and the left have found common ground in the bedroom.
However, older Indians remember the horrors of the Emergency period (1975-1977), when the son of the then Prime Minister, Sanjay Gandhi carried out his campaign of forced sterilizationwhich in 1976 alone forced more than 6.2 million men through forcible vasectomies, denial of salaries or benefits, demolition of homes and the infamous firing of Delhi residents who protested against it near the Turkman Gate.
Apart from family planning campaigns, the central government has not officially endorsed any restrictions on childbearing. But many states are introducing coercive laws to ensure population control. For example, the states of Assam and Rajasthan Government employment not eligible for candidates with more than 2 children. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh have introduced policies that disqualify candidates for local elections if they have three children.
From here we drive to Kerur, a village in Maharashtra whose 3,000 residents live exclusively from agriculture and will cast their votes in the election of the next panchayat in six months. The village recently reserved its seat for the Other Backward Classes (Women) category, which has sparked political ambitions among many. One such person was Padurang Baburao Kodamangale.
A daughter’s life for her father’s ambitions
With the incumbent sarpanch, Shinde’s encouragement and the promise of ₹15 lakh, Kodamangale was encouraged to submit his wife Ankita’s name to contest. However, the only obstacle was the two-child policy. He considered giving his three-year-old son up for adoption to one of his uncles because he didn’t have a birth certificate, but abandoned the plan out of fear of the local hospital’s records of the delivery. It is unknown how this plan led him to narrow down his options to killing one of his children, ultimately choosing one of the twin sisters who, according to Ankita, “was particularly fond of him and he was particularly fond of her.” One reason may be that the other twin did not feel comfortable on bike rides.
The details are particularly disturbing: the child did not go to school on January 29th, but went to his father’s salon. Kodamangale covered his face and left his phone behind, suggesting he had premeditated the murder, and then dropped the child into the canal after a long bike ride from Mukhed to Bodhan. Following Ankita’s inquiries, he claimed to be unsure of his daughter’s whereabouts and contacted the local police station but did not lodge a formal complaint.
On February 2, police revised the charges Sections 130(1), 140(1) and 238 BNS for murder, kidnapping and destruction of evidence. They arrested Kodamangale and Shinde, who as sarpanch is receiving massive local support for his release. The mother and siblings moved into their relatives’ house.
Costs of coercion
History has shown that coercive population control measures are counterproductive and violate basic human rights. When laws and policies are enacted to serve as “victories” in a status report, they lose the core purpose of protection. Such laws particularly target marginalized and vulnerable communities and cause gender injustice by incentivizing secret sex-selective practices in India, such as fetal gender disclosure, infanticide, feticide, infanticide, abandonment or lifelong rejection.
In the long run, China is the best case study to argue that no economic progress is worth citizens’ lives, liberty, and trust in government. Additionally, N. Chandrababu Naidu pointed out the low birth rate of 1.5 in the state revoked the three-decade-old children’s policy in the panchayat elections in 2024. Although the The Supreme Court upheld Rajasthan’s two-child rule For government offices, the state lifted the regulation in 2025 due to protests from rural residents. Last month, TelanganaThe state legislature unanimously repealed a similar law governing local elections. However, several states still have child restriction policies and related incentives in place. This case must open the eyes of our lawmakers and show that there is more to it Family planning than the number of children born. It addresses bodily autonomy, consent education, the age of marriage, contraceptive measures, and important considerations related to poverty, illiteracy, societal expectations, and community practices.
Second year student of Media Studies at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), BRC, Bangalore. A trained Kathak dancer, theater artist and political nerd.