Punishment alone is not the solution.

A baby is born out of wedlock. The mother kills the baby. And what does society do? Give her hundred lashes, put her in jail/banish her to another island and go on as before. For 800 years we have meted out the same punishment. But nothing changes. Infanticide cases continue and have actually increased. Do we know how many babies are clinically murdered in hospitals and clinics in Trivandrum and Sri Lanka? We should come up with a better plan to stop mothers from killing their babies.
Having a child out of wedlock is frowned upon by most cultures. In Maldivian society the stigma is overwhelming. The child itself is a "Haraam dhari" and never to be equal to others. If we wish to stop the mothers from killing their own child, we must first stop punishing them. The poor mother on top of the stigma, faces the financial prospect of caring for a child on her own. In their desperate helplessness they resort to taking the life of their own child. Women who get pregnant out of wedlock do not have the same access to prenatal and postnatal services. Social stigmatisation prevents them from freely accessing available services.
What we as a society should do is give them the help and support they need so that they do not kill their own child. Punishment alone is not the solution. Punishment is the main reason why mothers kill their infant child.
(Because some readers have mis-interpreted the post I have added extra clarifications and reposted)