Bhadrak: Newborns, most of them dead, are being found dumped at various places in Odisha with a chilling regularity these days. In the latest of such incidents, the body of a newborn was found stashed inside a carton box near Trisulput on NH-16 in Bhadrak on Saturday morning. Sources said some residents spotted the newborn’s body in the carton box and informed the police who reached the spot and seized it.
Though the exact cause is yet to be ascertained, it is suspected that someone might have dumped the newborn after it’s death. Investigations are on.
On Friday, residents had found the body of a newborn boy, wrapped in a sari, on the roadside near Hudco Colony in Keonjhar town. The police were probing if the baby was stillborn or had been abandoned after birth. At Rajaranipada in Bolangir district, stray dogs were found feeding on the severed head of an infant on Friday morning. This incident occurred near a hospital. The shocking incident was captured on camera. Three dogs were seen, one with the severed head in its jaws. How the dogs got the newborn’s head was not clear.
A week ago a newborn was found abandoned in Nahashola forest near Jahira village in Mayurbhanj district’s Betanati block. Residents said they had found the baby dumped inside a sack. It weighed 2.1kg and was administered primary treatment by Asha workers before being admitted to the ICU of Pandit Raghunath Murmu Medical College and Hospital in Mayurbhanj.
Also last week, the body of a newborn was found dumped inside a toilet in the Jagatsinghpur district headquarters hospital.
The attendant of a patient spotted the body wrapped in a plastic bag and kept on a toilet pan.
A month ago, a woman had rescued an abandoned newborn girl at Maningpadar village near Bhawanipatna in Kalahandi district. The baby was lying abandoned on the roadside when she was going to attend to nature’s call. It is suspected that the baby was born out of wedlock and the mother may have dumped it.
