An Indian father of five daughters who was desperate for a son that he allegedly split open his pregnant wife’s belly to determine the gender of their baby, has lost the child who was actually a boy.

“My brother-in-law often used to beat my sister for giving birth to five daughters. Our parents had intervened on several occasions. But no one imagined that he would take such a cruel step,” Anita Devi’s brother, Ravi Kumar Singh, told The Times of India.

The man, identified as Pannalal,43, attacked his wife Anita Devi, 35, with a sharp-edged weapon on Saturday night , September 19, at their home in Budaun in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, The Times of India reported.

The woman was rushed to a Bareilly hospital in a serious condition, but doctors were able to save her life.

However, the woman who was six to seven months pregnant before the attack later gave birth to a stillborn son, the BBC reports.

According to the new report,  the man has claimed he did not hurt his wife intentionally but admitted that he threw the sickle at her.

Civil Lines Police Station SHO, Sudhakar Pandey, who confirmed Pannalal’s arrest told TOI : “A priest had predicted that their sixth child would also be a girl. Pannalal then attacked Anita with a sickle on her abdomen to kill the fetus after she refused to have an abortion.”