Child found breastfeeding on dead mother near Madhya Pradesh railway tracks

BHOPAL: An unidentified woman was found dead under mysterious circumstances near a railway tracks in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh with her toddler weeping next to her corpse on Wednesday morning.“The child was hungry, trying to breastfeed on dead mother . This made all those who witnessed the scene cry,” said Sudhir Vidhyarthi, chairman of the child welfare committee (CWC), Damoh. Woman, 35, was found near a railway gate close to Madhya Pradesh finance minister Jayant Malliya’s bungalow. Her child is around 14-month-old.Vidhyarthi got a call about the incident from the Damoh railway station manager at around 6am. They were spotted around 5.30am by a local resident. Police suspect that the woman fell from a moving train with the baby in her lap. She had fatal injuries on her head while baby was safe.“It is possible that the woman had fallen off a moving train on Tuesday night and had succumbed to her injuries on the spot. Baby remained with the corpse,” said a police officer at Kotwali police station in Damoh. Her body has been sent for post-mortem.Case diary has been transferred to the government railway police (GRP) for further investigation.“When we reached the spot, the baby was sitting next to her trying to wake her up and breastfeed,” said the CWC chairman.Meanwhile CWC members had a trouble getting the child admitted at district hospital. “It’s outrageous. When we took the baby to the hospital after sending his mother’s body for post-mortem, the staff refused admission asking for Rs.10,” he said.Sources say the Damoh civil surgeon has instructed the hospital staff to not to admit any patient without collecting a fee of Rs 10. “Hospital employee was bounded by his order. It was only after a ward boy gave the requisite money that the boy was taken in,” Vidhyarthi said.CWC said the boy would be kept in Bal Bahawan for another two days. “We will wait for identification of the woman and his claimants before making any other legal proceedings,” he said.