Patna: Villagers in Bihar rescued a newborn baby girl after a mother buried her alive under the cover of darkness. The rescued baby has been admitted to a government hospital where she is recovering.
Police said a woman identified as Laxami Devi, a resident of Lakhisarai district, was burying her newborn baby on Saturday when the baby's cries caught the attention of a local woman who raised an alarm.
Local villagers rushed to the spot and rescued the baby from a ditch. The villagers found the baby unconscious as she had been wrapped in a blanket pressed down with bricks from above in the ditch.
“I was walking on the roof of my house when I saw a woman digging a trench and a baby lying near it crying loudly. I got suspicious and raised an alarm. By the time we reached the spot, she had buried the baby but we caught the woman,” a local woman Asha Devi told the police.
Police said they had arrested the woman and were trying to gather further details. The baby has been admitted to the special newborn care unit at a local government hospital where her condition is stated to be safe.
“The baby appears to be six-seven days old and very weak but she is out of danger now,” said Dr Rakesh Kumar who is treating the baby. He said a nurse is taking care of the baby.
Recently, a woman from Samastipur district killed her six-day-old infant girl by dumping her into the safety tank of her toilet. Another baby girl was found buried in Banka district as she was blind. Local villagers rescued the baby.
The incident comes amid the government launching extensive campaigns to save baby girls and end gender discrimination in the country. Bihar’s sex ratio has fallen further from 924 in 2013 to 916 in 2015.
