Newborn baby girl found buried alive in Indian forest in ANOTHER tragic case of female infanticide



The baby was just 24 hours old when she was left for dead



She was found still alive but died of her injuries the following day

Female infanticide and foeticide is rife in India as many families want boys



A newborn baby girl who was found horrifically buried alive in an Indian forest has died of her injuries.

The baby was just one day old when she was found wrapped in a cloth and half buried under earth and gravel last week, in Mandleshwar forest, outside the city of Indore in the central state of Madhya Pradesh.

She was rushed to a local government hospital with heavy bleeding from her nose and mouth but tragically died the following day from her injuries.



Horror find: Police retrieve the newborn baby girl who was found buried alive in an Indian forest in a suspected case of female foeticide

The baby girl, who was just one day old, was still alive when she was found half-buried in the forest, but died of her injuries two days later in hospital

A policeman carries the baby girl from the forest where she was found. She was taken to a local government hospital where doctors battled to save her life

Police believe the baby was abandoned in yet another tragic case of the controversial female foeticide and infanticide crisis that is sweeping India.

Officer B Yadav, from Indore Police, said it is suspected the girl’s family had abandoned her and left her to die.

He said: ‘We believe family or a close relative had left the baby girl to die. We are checking hospital records and recent births and we’re investigating the case but so far we have no leads.



'As it stands the apparent motive is female foeticide and we have registered the case.'

The baby girl was found on June 29th, by locals Radheshyam Kevat and Jagdish Mangilal, who were working in the area and heard the baby’s cries.

Jagdish Mangilal, 32, who works as a local tree planter, said: ‘We heard howling and we thought it was some animal but then we realised it sounded like a baby so we went to check.

Doctors at a local government hospital tend to the one-day-old baby. Tragically it was too late to save her

The infant is put in an incubator at the local government hospital. She died the day after she was brought into hospital

Female Foeticide is rife in India, as many families want baby boys to girls

‘We were so shocked to see a baby moving, it was pretty devastating and we quickly informed the police. It’s amazing the baby survived as the area is crawling with wild hungry animals.’

Female Foeticide is rife in India, as many families prefer having baby boys to girls. It’s a nation wide crisis and recent figures have estimated that there are now 750 females to every 1000 males in the country.

A UNICEF report in 2006 revealed that 10 million girls were killed - either before they were born or immediately after - by their parents from 1986 in India.



Last year, the medical journal Lancet stated that 500,000 girls in India were being lost annually through sex-selective abortions.

UNWANTED CHILDREN: FEMALE INFANTICIDE AND FOETICIDE IN INDIA

Female foeticide, the act of aborting a foetus because it is female, is a major social problem in India where there is a strong preference for sons over daughters. A recent study found 500,000 unborn girls were being aborted every year. A UNICEF report in 2006 revealed that 10 million girls were killed - either before they were born or immediately after - by their parents from 1986 in India. The practise is most prominent in Gujarat and the North Indian states, where there are low recorded rates of female children.

Female infanticide, the act of killing unwanted baby girls, is a long-standing cultural problem across the whole of the Indian sub continent owing to the patriarchal nature of society. Male children are preferred in the belief they will bring wealth and prosperity to the family while female children are often viewed as burdens. Another factor is the dowry system, where the family of the bride give a large sum of money or valuable goods to the groom and his family. Although the dowry system has been outlawed it continues to be deeply ingrained in Indian culture. Families with several daughters can find the practise of paying a dowry a serious burden. Female foeticide began in the early 1990s as a result of the availability in India of ultrasound techniques capable of determining the sex of an unborn child. As a result, 80 per cent of Indian districts have reported a greater ratio of male to female children since 1991. The practise is believed to have led to an increase in human trafficking with women being bought and sold as brides in areas where there are a greater proportion of men.



