Baby Afreen will need at least three weeks to recover: Doctors

Three-month-old Afreen, battling for life at a government hospital here after being allegedly tortured by her father, would take at least three weeks to recover, doctors attending on her said on Tuesday.

"She is still on ventilator and she had blood transfusion. It will at least take three weeks for her to recover," doctors at Vani Vilas Hospital, where she was admitted on Sunday in the intensive care unit, said.

"The baby is getting convulsions so we fear that the brain cells could be damaged. We can have a full assessment only after baby Afreen comes out of the ventilator," they said. The child has a severe head injury and deep bite marks on the thigh and buttocks.

Umar Farook, father of Afreen, has confessed to police that he tried to kill the child because he wanted a boy and not a girl. He has been arrested.

The 25-year-old also confessed to having attempted to murder her on earlier occasions, police said.

Afreen's mother, Reshma Bhanu (19) has accused her husband of causing the injuries and said both herself and the child suffered abuse in his hands in the past three months.