7-day-old abandoned baby rescued

A seven-day-old baby girl, wrapped in a polythene bag, was found next to a drain in the Model Town area of Delhi on Monday. The little girl is recuperating at the Babu Jagjivan Ram hospital nursery. Cops said many people, willing to adopt the girl, have already contacted them.

Last year, as many as 32 cases of abandoned foetus or babies were registered. This year, only two such cases have been reported, so far.

The child was wrapped in a polythene bag but her face was left open. Since she was lying next to a drain, mosquitoes had bitten her badly. The security guard of a nearby school heard her crying and picked her up, police said.

"The guard then informed the police, who rushed the baby to hospital. She is responding well to the treatment. A case has been registered and police are looking for her parents," DCP (north-west) Milind Dumbre said.

Since the girl was found, Constable Ram Pyari has been at the hospital to take care of her. Pyari, herself a mother of two, said her heart breaks to see abandoned newborns.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a three-month-old foetus was recovered from south Delhi's R K Puram on Monday. As part of a game, some children were digging in a playground in Sector 6 of the area when they came upon the foetus. Thinking it to be an animal, a boy took it to show his parents, who then informed the police. The sex of the foetus is yet to be ascertained.